Firms are today being urged to take part in the United Nations' World Environment Day by ensuring staff turn their PCs and monitors off at the end of the day.

The annual global event, which this year coincides with today’s G8 Summit where measures to help tackle climate change will dominate the agenda, aims to stimulate awareness of environmental issues. Environmentalists and IT experts advised firms to use the day to remind staff to do their bit to save energy and limit carbon emissions by turning off their PCs and monitors at the end of the day.

"Staff need to be aware of the energy their IT equipment consumes and the combined impact of everyone turning things off," agreed Chris Large, environment champions programme manager at practical environmental charity Global Action Plan. "One person at work switching off their PC and saving 1 kWh overnight may seem small, but if an office of 1,000 people do this every night they'll save 180 tons of CO2 in a year."

Dave Scott, head of communications at Fujitsu Siemens Computers, added that World Environment Day offered the perfect opportunity for IT chiefs to remind staff to turn off their equipment when it is not in use.

"As we are about to enter the summer season and the majority of people will be leaving the office for their one- or two-week annual break, we want companies to make sure that employees are not leaving their computers on standby during this protracted period of time," Scott said. "If everyone does this simple thing of switching off their PC, then it really starts to make a difference."

Printer manufacturer Ricoh, meanwhile, is running an Eco Action Day, featuring free tyre pressure checks and turn off PC reminders, designed to encourage staff, partners and customers to reduce their environmental footprint. "We’re hoping that this initiative will make our staff, partners and customers sit up and think of more ways in which they can reduce their carbon footprint," said Tom Wagland, environmental manager at Ricoh UK. "People can cope without modern day conveniences like air con, it’s just a case of reminding them that small actions can count."

Recent research has shown that firms also have a financial incentive to encourage the turning off of PCs and monitors, with The Carbon Trust estimating that the average office wastes £6,000 a year by leaving equipment on over weekends and bank holidays. "A computer left on 24/7 will cost around £37 a year but if switched off at night and at weekends this can be reduced to around £10 a year," added Hugh Jones, project director at The Carbon Trust.

A separate study last year from desktop management software specialist 1E also found that leaving on unused computers was costing British companies over £115m a year and resulting in 700,000 tons of unnecessary carbon emissions.

Traditionally, users have often resisted turn off campaigns claiming that turning off PCs is inconvenient and leads to a greater frequency of technical faults. However, Gary Barnett of analysts Ovum said these concerns were increasingly outdated. "It is like the myth about how leaving fluorescent lights on uses less energy than turning them on and off, which is nonsense," he said. "There is very little justification now for leaving PCs on overnight and you have to remember that if you are leaving them on you are not just wasting the power used to run the PCs but also increasing your air conditioning bills."

Large added that IT chiefs should look for innovative strategies to encourage staff to behave more responsibly. "Rewarding staff who turn off their monitor with a fair trade chocolate or smiley face sticker is a good thank you for those that exhibit good behaviour," he said. "Companies could also run league tables to see which departments waste the most energy. This can be a great way to get managers involved, as no one wants their department to be bottom of the pile."