hkmarks's Profile

Set your computer to go on standby (low-power sleep mode) or hibernation mode (turns off, but remembers where you left off) when you're not using it. Most PCs (including monitors and peripherals) use 100-200 Watts or more.

Even if you're just leaving for a few minutes, turn off your monitor or set it to turn off automatically. That will save you 30 W for LCD monitors and 80 W for CRT monitors. Don't use screen savers -- they aren't needed to "save" new screens, which aren't prone to burn-in like early monitors. Computers use more energy just displaying them than they do just sitting there. (Processors use more power the harder they are working.)

Despite what you might have heard, it's not true that turning your computer off will shorten its life span. Computers also throw off a lot of heat.

Consider making your next computer a laptop. Only rarely will they use more than 30 W, and they use only 3 W when in sleep mode. (I once heard an anecdote about a contest to build a low-power-consumption computer. It was easily won by a guy with a standard, off-the-shelf laptop.)

http://it.med.miami.edu/x1159.xml