Telstra says it has saved 646 tonnes of CO2 by switching off 36,000 desktop and laptop PCs.

Telstra IT staff removed corporate screensavers from all Windows XP laptops and desktops computers and replaced with a black screensaver, the company said.  The move had the same impact on carbon emission as removing nearly 140 cars from Australian roads for a year, Telstra said.

Telstra Property Director Vito Chiodo said screensavers use as much energy as a full screen of work and also require considerable processing energy. He said screensavers had been designed to conserve older CRT computer screens, but were not required for today’s LCD screens.

Telstra said its energy management programs had saved 173,998 tonnes CO2 equivalent during 2006/07, which is the equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions from around 18,655 average Australian homes for a year.