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According to electricity company 1E, almost one out of three German and British employees do not shut down the computer when they stop working on them. In the USA there’s almost 50 percent of employees not shutting down unused computers. The unused computers waste 1,22 billions of kilowatts an hour worldwide.

Employees leave their computers on, so that other employees are able to use them. But some employees leave them on, because the computer hibernates automatically after a certain amount of time. Employees often use the excuse that it costs too much time to shutdown their system, and to boot it up again after.

Serious consequences can occur if the habit of leaving unused computers on remains. The research shows that German companies yearly loose 912,84 million euros, by not shutting down unused computers. A company using thousand computers, will waste around 150.000 kilowatts an hour, equalling a total of 28.000 euros a year.

“A computer does waste energy, even if the system is idling. By shutting down unused computers, companies would save alot of money. They would also lessen CO2 emissions tremendously.” says Sumir Karayi from 1E to the press.

According to the results of the research led by 1E, unused idling computers have had the same impact on the environment as four million cars driving around, in 2009 only!