UK small businesses are throwing away £30.8 million every day, simply by leaving comuters on, according to new research by energy supplier E.ON.
One-third of UK small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) aren’t powering down their PCs at night, leading to massive amounts of energy being wasted after offices clear out, according to a release from E.ON. To make matters worse, one in five aren’t turning off computers on the weekend either.
According to E.ON, this is largely because businesses wrongly believe that turning computers off does not make much difference.
"Ten per cent of small business owners wrongly assume that leaving computers on standby at night uses the same amount of energy as shutting them down completely," Iain Walker, head of Business Sales at E.ON, said. "Introducing small changes into the culture of your business, like turning equipment off fully at night, can have a significant financial impact on your energy bills."
Retail sector loses most
Small businesses in the retail sector are the most common perpetrators, the release said, with over two-thirds not shutting down their computers at night and 59 per cent only powering down computers on the weekend. Professional sector respondents are also losing large amounts of money, with 60 per cent admitting to not turning off their PCs when the day is done.
The agriculture sector proved to be the greenest of those surveyed, with 69 per cent shutting down every night. Businesses in the property sector followed closely, with 61 per cent of respondents claiming to power down each night.
with thanks to greenwise business