Go Green!

Being an MSU grad I love to say that, especially if there are UoM people around. Even better if they are football fans. :) But this is a discussion about saving money. We’re going to have lots of these this year.

The kick off was in December when I let you know about the Free Quickbooks Pro 2009 offer. I know some of you took advantage of it and let me know that you did. I appreciate the feedback. That’s a $199 savings per user so we’re off to a good start in 2009!

Now let’s talk about electricity. I’m only going to talk about computer equipment but the discussion applies equally well to every power consuming thing in your office. If you leave them on, here’s what each item is costing you every year.

Let’s do some math and assume a 10 user company with LCD monitors for nice round numbers.

Cost when left on: $1629.30

Cost when unplugged: $135.80

Savings: $1493.50

Sounds difficult to unplug your computer and monitor, doesn’t it? But it’s not. Look under your desk. Odds are that your computer, monitor and everything else that is using power is plugged into a power strip. Turn off the power strip and you’ve turned off power to everything.

The bad news about Laser Printers is that they use 80-90% more power than InkJets do. So don’t forget to power off those printers too.

Some more food for thought

New Computers vs Old Computers

New computers are being manufactured to use less power. A new computer from Dell uses 70% less computer today than it did in 2000. When you purchase a new computer, you’ll not only gain in productivity but you’ll notice a quieter work environment and lower electricity bills.

Want to know more? There’s a nifty product out there called Kill-a-Watt. It’s simple. You plug it into the wall. You plug your equipment into it and it will display for you how much power that item is using. It’s only $29 and it provide a wealth of information and a cool tool to help communicate the message of conservation to your employees.

Thanks for being a Harbor Computer Services customer.