Poll Says U.S. Employees=Eco Hypocrites
There are countless startups like Zondu and Verdiem that are devoted to selling energy saving technology for the office. But saving power doesn’t always need high-tech intervention — why not just turn off lights and computers at the office? According to a new survey, though, that’s not such an easy fix for most people.
A poll, commissioned by Sun Microsystems and conducted by Harris Interactive, found out that 73% of U.S. workers want their employers to be environmentally responsible, by actually fail in their own efforts to help. According to the report, U.S. workers waste an estimated $4.3 billion in energy costs each year, sending 32 million tons of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. Yikes!
The survey polled 1,741 U.S. employees, ages 18-14 24, who work for companies of 25 or more. Here are some of its key findings
- Nearly three-quarters of workers said they “strongly or somewhat agree” that it is “important that their employer is an environmentally and socially responsible company.”
- But just 52% percent of workers turn off the light when they leave a room at work. 92 percent of those surveyed said if they were at home, they’d turn off their lights.
- Similarly, only 34% turn off computers at work when they’ve finished using them, compared to 58% at their home residence.
- Power saving sleep mode for computers is employed less often in a work environment than at a residence. 57% of workers are using “sleep” mode at home, while just 44% use this automatic energy-saving hibernation state in the office. (For a “cool” power-saving add-on, check out our post on power-saving software available for free download at LocalCooling.com).
And some final food for thought from Sun:
“If the percentage of America’s 81.1 million office workers who are not turning off lights and computers at work took their energy-conscious behaviors to work with them, Sun estimates that those workers could achieve the equivalent of taking 6.1 million cars off the road in aggregate CO2 emissions.” — release
This is a great study and I am compelled to cite in my green business workshop. I do wonder how these companies function with:
“1,741 U.S. employees, ages 18-14″?
Thank you for doing this important work. :)
Elrod
[...] Earth2Tech has news of a poll commissioned by Sun Microsystems that shows 73% of U.S. workers want their employers …. [...]
I couldn’t understand some parts of this article , but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.