Power management can save energy

Computers consume a good amount of energy. This energy is needed when we are actively using the machine, but can be easily avoided by good power management settings when not.

To improve the power efficiency of your PC, the Climate Savers Computing Initiative recommends the following power management settings:

• Monitor/display sleep: Turn off after 15 minutes or less
• Turn off hard drives/hard disk sleep: 15 minutes or less
• System standby/sleep: After 30 minutes or less

Easy instructions on how to adjust your settings on your machine at work or at home are posted here.

Also, even when the computer is turned off, it can consume energy. You can avoid this by using a power strip with a master switch that turns off all your hardware.