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Energy Conservation and Computing

Bild: spacejunkie / photocase

Although they become smaller and lighter and seem to reduce their use of material and ressources, our laptops and desktop PCs hide an immense technology inside ther stylish little bodies. And this needs a lot of energy power, especially when we are using several apps at one moment.

RESET provides a short guideline for you to lower the energy consumption of your little helper by implementing only a few Steps in your every-day-PC-life. Give it a try!

• First of all, turn your computer off
at night and when you are not planning to use it! (Or, if possible, put it in Sleep Mode). And on the next morning: Dont’ switch on every electronic advice in your office, such as printer, scanner, power speakers, external hard drives and so on immediately, unless you really need it!

• Worth knowing about screen saver and power saving modes:
Screen savers do not reduce the use of power by your computer! Once your screen saver kicks in, your monitor will draw its full power load.
All users, whether on desktops or laptops, should configure their computers to use the power-saving or energy star modes that shut down power to the monitor, hard drive, and computer itself after periods of inactivity. Putting your computer in sleep mode allows it to use substantially less power, allows it to respond to some types of network activity, and allows you to not power off the computer.

• The following equipment should be turned off as well

    •    Monitors
    •    Printers
    •    Scanners
    •    Powered speakers

Please keep in mind that many electronic devices, monitors in particular, continue to draw 9-16 watts of power even when turned off! To eliminate this draw, use a power strip that has the ability to switch off certain outlets and not others (or, alternatively, use two separate power strips) so that you can turn off any of them without turning off devices that need to remain powered, such as your computer's CPU...

• purchasing decisions:

Although the initial acquisition costs of laptops may be higher, they draw significantly smaller amounts of power in operation than desktop systems. These savings can be going up to 80-90% percent and should be included in a purchasing decision.
Networked printers can also serve entire workgroups and may also result in energy savings over individual printers.
LCD monitors offer up to 60% power savings over CRTs and produce less heat.