Turn it off or: "How I saved COM money"

Submitted by: Brad Denison

When you leave your house you tend to go through a mental check list. “Did I turn off the iron? Is the coffee pot still on? Are all the lights off?” You want to make sure that things are how they should be while you are at work.

Now let’s apply those habits to the classroom.

Classroom data projectors are not cheap by any means, and a good part of the cost is the light bulb. Depending on the model of the projector and when it was made, the bulb’s life span averages 1500 hours - with older models lucky to get 1000 hours.

Let’s say a class ends at 2 p.m. on a Friday and the classroom is not going to be used again until 10 a.m. Monday morning and the projector gets left on over the weekend. No big deal right? Wrong. That is 68 hours off the bulbs life span. If that happens 14 times we have one blown light bulb.

How can we get the most out of the equipment? Make sure the data projector is turned off. Save electricity. Save money. Save trees. Did I say save money? I should have because I meant save money.

So when you leave the classroom make sure to turn off the data projector. Projection screens should be rolled up into their housing. Turn off document cameras, TVs, VCRs and DVD players.

Now imagine you are on your way home from work and you think to yourself, “Did I turn off the data projector and roll up the projection screen?” Well did you?