Non-production EC2 instances are often provisioned for daytime-only usage but remain running 24/7 out of convenience or oversight. This results in unnecessary compute charges, even if the workload is inactive for 16+ hours per day. AWS supports automated schedules to stop and start instances at predefined times, allowing organizations to retain data and instance configuration without paying for unused runtime. Implementing a shutdown schedule for inactive periods (e.g., nights, weekends) can reduce compute costs by up to 60% in typical non-prod environments.