Yes. Turn it off, and unplug it if necessary. If you’re not using an appliance or gadget or even your computer, it really doesn’t need to be on. The U.S. Department of Energy suggests that you should turn off your monitor if you’re not going to be using it for more than 20 minutes and shut down your computer if it’s going to sit idle for two hours or more. What’s that, you say? Shutting down my computer and rebooting it is bad for it? Yes and no, but mostly no. See, the damage you do by shutting it down and booting it back up is very little and leaving it running also puts wear and tear on the machine. So turn it off if you’re not going to be using it for a while.

If you read my blog and listen to my podcast, you’ve probably heard me talk about vampire power, or phantom power. Anything you have plugged in uses electricity, even when it’s off. Good Magazine has a video on it at YouTube:

Ever touched a power adapter for an electronic device that isn’t running and wondered why it’s hot? It’s still drawing juice from the outlet. And devices like TV sets and monitors constantly pull a little electricity to make them turn on faster when you push the button, because we’re all about the convenience of having nearly-instant television. But that electricity adds up.

Josh Anderson wrote about eight appliances people leave on that they shouldn’t over at Planet Green. Take a look.

One thing I’d like to get for my own use is a smart power strip. Jaymi Heimbuch at Treehugger wrote about some she saw at CES 2009 called Smart Strips. These are neat, because not only do they shut down phantom power (and protect your equipment from surges), but they also figure out when the batteries you’ve plugged in to charge are full and shut down energy to the charger.

But you don’t have to wait until you’ve invested in intelligent power strips to cut down on that extra juice. Just unplug your stuff when you’re done using it, and you’ll save energy and money, too.

5 Ways You Can Cut Your Electronic Environmental Impact:
No. 5: Buy Green
No. 3: Manage Your Printing
No. 2: Convergence
No. 1: Recycle