1. Kick Off Email Theme: Explanation of the campaign
From: Executive Sponsor, Company Campaign Manager, or Floor Captain
To: All employees
Subject: We’re Stepping Up and Powering Down!
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Hello everyone!
I am excited to announce [Business Name]’s commitment to reducing energy waste by participating in the Step Up and Power Down movement. Step Up and Power Down is a new initiative between PG&E and the City of San José where local businesses do our part to reduce energy waste by taking simple actions.
Did you know that workspace devices account for up to 20 percent of an office’s electrical use?* To do our part in this citywide movement, we’re launching our very own “Power Down: Unplucked!” campaign.
This campaign will strengthen and reinforce our habit of taking the simple action of unplugging devices to save energy. Power Down: Unplucked! encourages each of you to unPLUCK your devices when leaving your workstation at the end of the day. If you forget to turn off or power down your devices—”fowl” play—you will find a rubber chicken on your desk reminding you to power down. Then, you’ll have the opportunity to pass the chicken on to a coworker who also needs to unplug or power down their workspace.
[Insert any specific company energy or sustainability goals, as desired.]
We know our colleagues and employees all want to reduce energy waste, so please join me in leading the way. Sign up to participate at [insert link to sign up form].
To learn more about Step Up and Power Down, visit SanJose.StepUpAndPowerDown.com.
[Name]
[Company Executive Sponsor, Campaign Manager, or Floor Captain]
Step Up and Power Down Initiative
*California Commercial End-Use Survey

2. Reminder Email Theme: Description of campaign, encourage participation
From: Company Campaign Manager
To: All employees
Subject: Power Down and unPLUCK!
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Hello everyone!
As you heard from [Executive Leader], we’re launching our “Power Down: Unplucked!” campaign next week to do our part to reduce energy waste! Our goal is for [# or % of] people to sign-up to participate. This is a great opportunity for us to showcase our commitment to sustainability and it’s as easy as powering down your workstation when not in use, especially at the end of the day.
All you have to do is:
Sign up to participate here [insert link to sign up form] by [date]
Display your desk decal to showcase your participation (you will receive this when you sign up)
Power down your workspace to avoid receiving a rubber chicken––but if you do, you have 48 hours to pass it along to another co-worker whose devices you find left on
That’s it––it’s really that easy for each of us to do our part! Please join me in leading the way by signing-up to ensure a brighter future for us and for San José.
[Name]
Company Campaign Manager
Step Up and Power Down Initiative

3. Weekly Encouragement Email (Mondays)
Theme: Report results recap from week before (except week 1 of campaign) and reminder to continue to unplug energy vampires at workstations
From: Company Campaign Manager or Floor Captain
To: Energy Champions
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Hello team!
Great work last week! All of you reported that [# or % of] workstations were powered down at the end of each day throughout last week. We’re off to a great start, but our work isn’t done yet. Let’s reach our goal by continuing to remind our coworkers to unpluck! I’ll be sending a note on Friday to submit your quick survey to track our progress.
Let’s make it even more fun:
Photos of rubber chickens on a colleagues workstation
Photos of participants passing the rubber chicken (#Unplucked)
Trivia question around electricity use stats (with the answer in Friday’s )
Thanks for your participation and for doing your part to reduce our energy waste!
[Name]
Company Campaign Manager
Step Up and Power Down Initiative

4. Weekly Reminder Email (Fridays)
Theme: Remind participants to self report using the Google form (or otherwise specified document) (except the last Friday of the campaign)
From: Company Campaign Manager or Floor Captain
To: Energy Champions
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Hello team,
[Option 1] Great job this week––we’re seeing even more workstations unplucked and appreciate all of you helping to make this part of our culture here at [Business Name]. However, our work is not done yet––let’s keep up the momentum and help remind others to power down whenever we’re not at our workstation and especially at the end of the day!
[Option 2] We’re halfway there––great job unplucking devices at your workstations and reducing our energy waste together. However, our work is not done yet––let’s keep up the momentum and remind others to power down whenever we’re not at our workstation and especially at the end of the day!
Help us understand our impact! Please fill out this quick 30-second survey [insert link to Google form or otherwise specified document] and keep unplucking!
[Name]
Company Campaign Manager
Step Up and Power Down Initiative

5. Wrap-Up
Theme: Share results and thank everyone for their efforts
From: Company Campaign Manager or Executive Sponsor
To: All employees
Subject: Power Down: Unplucked – We did it!
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Hello everyone,
I am thrilled to announce the great results from our Power Down: Unplucked! campaign! Based on the efforts of our participants, we’ve adopted new energy efficient habits that resulted in a total of [# or % of] unplucked workstations over the last four weeks.
Thank you for all of your hard work in powering down! We made great progress from where we started and are excited to continue these habits as part of our new, more energy efficient culture––because all of our small changes add up to make a big difference for San José.
We’re looking forward to our next opportunity to Step Up and Power Down. We will share more information about our next campaign soon. In the meantime, let’s keep doing our part to eliminate our energy waste!
[Name]
Company Campaign Manager
Step Up and Power Down