How to Save Energy With a Personal Computer

Energy prices are out of control, and many people are trying to cut back when and where they can. If you are reading this, there is a good chance that you have a personal computer. Your computer consumes a lot of energy, and much of that energy is simply wasted when you are not using your computer. With a few simple steps, you can save energy with your personal computer. Not only will you lower your energy bills, but you will be adding life to your personal computer components and doing a small favor for the environment as well.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Personal computer
• Power strip
• Energy Star compliance information

1. Turn off your computer when you're not using it. Not only is this a great way to save energy, but you can also add life to your PC components. For example, if you know that you will be gone for a weekend, shut your computer down. Some users might even want to fully shut down their computers at night when not in use.
   
   Older computers suffered and were damaged by constant shut-down and boot-up cycles, but modern computers (built within the past 5 years) are designed to sleep and wake and constantly move in and out of low-power states.

2. 
   Energy Star has great reccomendations for energy consumption.

   Today, most new personal computers are running an operating system that features rather robust power saving features and settings. According to Energy Star, by tuning these settings, you can conserve as much as 60 percent of the energy that your personal computer consumes.
   
   In Microsoft Windows, these power savings can be found by clicking "Start" > "Control Panel" > "Power Options." In Apple OS X, go to "System Preferences" > "Energy Saver." The Energy Star recommended settings are Monitor: sleep after 20 minutes, Hard Disks: sleep after 30 minutes, System Standby or Hibernation: after 90 minutes.

3. Eliminate phantom power. Phantom power is the energy that is consumed by a device or device charger when it is not in use. Basically, if an electronic device or device charger (even your personal computer) is warm when it is plugged in, even if it is off, it is consuming electricity.
   
   To eliminate phantom power, you should always unplug chargers or power supplies for a device if the device is off or not plugged in. For your personal computer setup, you should plug all of your devices into a single power supply so that you can unplug it when the devices are powered down.

4. Avoid screensavers or live (streaming) desktop technologies. Many screensavers keep your CPU churning and your monitor awake even if your power settings are tuned correctly. If you are concerned about the health of your monitor, set it to sleep after 5 or 10 minutes of no use.
   
   The bottom line is, if your computer is not being used or actively working with data, it should be off or asleep.

Tips & Warnings

• Visit the Energy Star website for more information on saving energy on other appliances as well as energy ratings of specific personal computers. Consider treating other entertainment devices such as televisions or gaming systems like you would your personal computer
• If you have an older personal computer (pre-2003), some of these recommendations can actually harm your computer. Your computer is also consuming more energy then it needs to. You might be able to save money on energy by upgrading your personal computer hardware.

Resources

• Energy Star Information

[Doodlebugs]

on 10/28/2008 One more way to save a little power is to use a "green search engine" that uses a black page background. This can save up to fifteen watts with some monitors. See article.. http://www.ehow.com/how_4563508_search-engine-using-black-background.html