Maybe it's just a computer monitor with a colorful screen saver. Or an open laboratory fume hood. Or perhaps a piece of unused research equipment, left to hum softly in an empty lab.

When it comes to energy saving, it all makes a difference.

As winter break approaches, it's time to reinvigorate a tradition that suffered a little neglect last year. It's a simple concept but a vital one: If you won't be using something over the 10-day holiday break, make sure it won't be wasting energy.

The tradition started strong four years ago. But these days, as energy costs soar, squeezing budgets, it could use a revival.

In 2001, when then Vice President Harold (Hal) Craft asked the campus community to be more energy conscious, Cornellians rallied to the cause, unplugging equipment, shutting off computers, lowering thermostats and switching off lights before leaving for the holidays. The savings: 3,500 kilowatts (kW) average, worth $84,000 at today's electricity rates; a 60 percent increase in savings over the year before.

The following year, savings doubled versus year 2000 to 4,300 kW, worth $103,200.

In 2003-04 the savings were still a record, but they had reached a plateau. And then, over the 2004-05 break, there was a reversal in the energy-saving trend. We were slipping back into complacency. The need, perhaps, didn't seem so urgent anymore.

This winter break, there's a lot of room to improve, says W.S. (Lanny) Joyce, a manager in the Department of Utilities and Energy Management. So he has his eye on the record 2002-03 and 2003-04 savings of 4,300 kW -- and beating that by about 1,000 kW, for a total energy-bill savings of well over $100,000.

Joyce's department has been working steadily to save energy as effortlessly as possible -- installing systems to turn down the ventilation automatically when people leave a room, swapping energy-intensive lights for more efficient ones, and more. "We're finding creative ways of doing things. We can see where we're saving," says Jim Obrien, a general foreman at the university's Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration shop. Now, it's up to each building's users to do their part.

To make it easier, the Utilities Department's Web site has posted energy-saving tips and a checklist to follow before leaving for break. The Spotlight feature on the university's home page also links to helpful sites, and a downloadable version of the Unplug logo is available at http://www.news.cornell.edu/features/energy/energy.shtml. The outreach campaign is on -- and everyone has a role to play . . . and a stake in the outcome.

"We're working hard to make systems better," says Joyce. "But to really succeed, we need help from everyone on campus during the holiday break and all year long."