Shut Down Guide

Every day the University of Reading spends hundreds, if not thousands of pounds on powering equipment that doesn’t need to be turned on. During Christmas Day 2008, we spend a staggering £3500 on electricity from one meter alone!

In EEST, we want to make it as easy as possible for you to reduce you energy consumption. To help out, we’ve produced the following quick guide and template for setting up a shut down planner.

How to get started

Take a walk around your office or building and make a list of everything you can see that uses electricity or has a switch.
Enter this information into the table provided below
Once you have your list of items, the next step is to decide when it is safest to turn off the equipment (from a H&S and popularity perspective). Some questions to ask yourself include:

Does anyone other than me use this (don’t switch off the lights in a full room)
Is the item used on it’s own, or is it part of a system (wireless routers may be used by people outside of your room)
Will turning off this item damage it’s performance (turning off a full fridge before Christmas will make a happy return in the new year)
Is it easy to turn back on (e.g. password, start up sequence or physical access)
Does it NEED to be left on (come computer programs may need to be left running overnight)

You can now complete the next section of the form, deciding whether the item can be turned off after use, at the end of each day or week or just before everyone leaves for an extended period of time, Christmas for instance.
Now that you have completed the planner, there’s no point keeping it to yourself! You need to communicate the message. Some ideas of how to do this might include:

Emailing it to your colleagues
Pinning it to the exit of the office/ wall of the reprographics area
Talking about it in your team meeting
Including it in your newsletter

Alternatively, you might like to find that night owl and ask them to have a quick once around the area before they go home to make sure everyone’s monitor/ PC/ photocopier is off.
If you are particularly proud of your achievements, or would like some further assistance, please get in touch with and we will do what we can to promote your good work or help out with any challenges.

Shut Down Guide

Item / I can safely turn this off…
…after using it / …at the end of the day / …at the end of the week / …at the end of term