How to Save Energy by Scheduling Start Up and Shut Down Times on a Mac

We're all looking for ways to save time and energy these days. From combining errands to turning off all the lights to setting thermostats to 78 degrees in the summer and 69 in the winter. Another place we can shave off a few minutes and save a few kilowatt-hours of energy is by scheduling start up and shut down times for our computers. Mac OSX's included Energy Saver preferences allow us to do just that. For example, we can set a time to start our work computers in the morning and shut them down at night. We can also estimate how much money we can save by turning off computers when they're not in use on Apple's website. Here is how to start saving.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Apple Computer Running Mac OSX Leopard

1. 

   Launch Mac OS X Leopard's System Preferences. It's located in the Applications folder of OS X's Finder.

2. 

   Click on the "Energy Saver" preferences in the "Hardware" section of System Preferences.

3. 

   Hit the "Schedule" button on the bottom right.

4. 

   Click on the check box next to "Start up or wake" in the Energy Saver preferences.

5. 

   Select "Every Day," "Weekdays," "Weekends," or a specific day of the week in the drop-down box to the right of "Start up or wake."

6. 

   Set the start up time by either typing in the time or using the up and down arrows next to the time text box.

7. 

   Click the next check box on the line below the start up time you just set in the Energy Saver preferences.

8. 

   Select "Sleep," "Restart" or "Shut Down" in the drop-down box. This will allow you to schedule the selected action.

9. 

   Choose how often you want the computer to automatically perform the action you selected above. Your choices are "Every Day," "Weekdays," "Weekends," or you can also select a specific day of the week.

10. 

    Set the time you want the computer to sleep, restart or shut down.

11. Click the "OK" button. Your computer will now automatically start up and shut down, saving you time and energy.

Resources

• Apple Energy Usage Calculator

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on 5/30/2008 Great to know!