Ecobutton

The ecobutton is an illuminating USB device that acts as a reminder for the user to press everytime the computer is going to be left idle. When pressed the computer goes into ecomode and operates more efficiently whilst not in use.

• One third or more of energy used on a PC and monitor is wasted energy!
• This wasted energy can cost around £50 or more a year.

2 minutes, 2 hours, 2 days –
one small click one BIG change

Computers and monitors can account for half of the electricity used in a typical offi ce. A single monitor left witched on overnight can use the same energy as a laser printer producing 800 A4 printed copies, - and don’t be fooled by a screensaver – the computer is still working at full power to run this! There are some 10m office PCs in Britain and 1.8m are regularly left on overnight or all weekend, according to a recent study on energy wastage. This means that around 1.5 billion kWh of energy is wasted by computers and monitors being left on – that’s approximately £115million wasted in the UK every year! Convert this into carbon and we waste around 7000,000 tonnes of carbon because of workers not switching off computers and monitors in the UK (that’s 10% of the UK climate change levy target)!

The ecobutton™ is an illuminating USB device that acts as a reminder and a prompt for the user to press the ecobutton™ at every opportunity whenever the computer is going to be left idle. This could be from taking a phone call or break, to doing paperwork or going to lunch and meetings where otherwise the computer would normally be left on. This is because people generally do not like turning off their computers because of the time it often takes to restart. When the ecobutton™ is pressed it engages the computer into energy saving ‘ecomode’. This ensures that both the computer and monitor are set to operate in the most effi cient, lowest power mode available, which actually draws only the same nominal power as when the computer and monitor are turned off! When you need to use the computer again, simply press any key to instantly return to where you left off!

Saving:

The amount of energy that a computer and monitor use varies depending on its age, model, and the programmes and applications in use. A PC switched on 8 hours a day engaging ‘ecomode’ for 3 hours could save around £50 in electricity cost per year. If the PC is left on overnight the saving could be £100 or more - or the equivalent of 600kgs of CO2. Indirect savings can be made with air conditioning systems as they do not have to work so hard because less heat is generated from computers actively using the ecobutton™. Because the ecobutton™ stays illuminated even during ecomode, this can provide a useful reminder that all uneccessary computers, lighting, heating and air conditioning etc... should be be switched off at the end of the day.