HP has just launched a campaign called Power To Change which encourages users to turn off computers when they’re not in use. Not a big deal, you think? I was surprised to read that, in the US alone, only 36 per cent of business computers are turned off at the end of the day.*  So, even if you already turn off your idle computer, the likelihood that your colleagues or friends are doing the same is not high.

So with this campaign, you can help to raise awareness and encourage people to save energy. Just go to the ‘Spread the Word’ section on www.hp.com/powertochange and send an email to colleagues, friends and family members.

On the website you can see what our joint efforts amount to: They show how many people are participating around the world; how CO² emissions are saved by turning off computers and how these figures compare in terms of cars that could be taken off the road.

To get more information, you can also visit the Power To Change blog where HP environment and CSR experts blog about the campaign and give useful tips on how to ‘green’ your office. The power to change is in our hands!

Ulrike Haug, CSR Stakeholder Programmes

*Source for computers left on every night (US): Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories, After-hours Power Status of Office Equipment and Inventory of Miscellaneous Plug-Load Equipment, Report No. 53729, January 2004.