THE ECONOMICS OF CYCLING PERSONAL COMPUTERS

This paper explores the economics of turning off (cycling) a personal computer (PC). First, it explores the costs and benefits for turning o ff the hardware, and describes them in simple equations. Next, it comb ines typical office worker salaries and typical energy usage for PCs t o determine how much worker time can be spent on computer cycling for this action to be economically justified. Finally, the paper shows tha t the value of workers' salaries makes improvements in hardware effici ency and automatic monitor shutdown (using techniques now common in la ptop computers) relatively more attractive than programmes to modify o ffice workers' behaviour.