Lately I have been using my computer at home a lot. However, I do not use it in one continuous go. Usually I turn it on, do a few things, then walk away and do something else away from the computer before returning to continue working. The computer can be on for several hours.
When I am not using the computer my screen saver kicks in. I always thought this was a good thing. But using a screen saver consumes more energy than just letting the monitor dim when it is not in use. I found out this useful tip along with how to use the power management features on my computer from the Climate Savers Smart Computing website. According to them: “The average desktop PC wastes half the energy it consumes and even though most of today’s desktop PCs are capable of automatically transitioning to a sleep or hibernate state when inactive, about 90% of systems have this functionality disabled”. I was one of them!!
So following the instructions at the Climate Savers website for my windows operating system I have changed my settings to the following:
- 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
When I want to use the computer again, I just press any key on the keyboard or move the mouse and the computer wakes up. Everything is how I left it, ready to start using again.
This change took me less than 5 minutes to do. I feel greener already 
