Did you know that the electricity required to keep a PC running overnight generates up to 51 lbs of CO2 every month, and the combined energy wasted by consumer electronics in standby mode is as high as 10% of all residential power consumption in developed countries*?

Of course you did. So join up and take the Give Your Computer a Rest challenge presented by DeviceVM and Carbon Rally, which gives people a place to sign up, spread the word and learn new ways to reduce their carbon footprint (CO2 emissions).

Carbon Rally harnesses the power of Internet communities and on-line gaming to "engage people in environmental action on a massive scale." Some of the challenges are a small as encouraging people to drink tap water vs. bottled water and avoiding disposable coffee cups The site regularly poses challenges entailing small lifestyle changes but ties it into hard science by publishing studies on the effect on greenhouse gas emissions. (So, for the doubters in your group, send them to the site for the data.)

Why is DeviceVM involved? Because their Splashtop software lets users access the Internet and key applications seconds after turning on their computers, so you can resist the temptation to keep your computer on because the next morning you have to wait for a traditional OS to boot up, cursing the entire time. (Splashtop is bundled with motherboards, desktops and notebooks by their manufacturers and is currently available on ASUS Motherboard.)

So far with this challenge 427 people have reduced CO2 emissions by 9.59 tons by completing this challenge. That's equal to turning off the electricity of 5 homes for about 1 month!

Come on, do your bit and take the challenge. It won't hurt a bit.

*according to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.