Reduce your computing carbon footprint today

By pledging support to Climate Savers Computing and participating in Power Down for the Planet, you are committing to green computing practices. Follow the simple steps and tips outlined below to lessen your environmental impact:

• Begin using computer power management today. Doing so can save nearly half a ton of CO2 and more than $60 a year in energy costs. Click here to learn how to activate sleep/standby mode or download a tool that will manage your computer’s power management for you.
• If you are considering purchasing a new PC or laptop, look for a model that is Energy Star qualified. Look for the Energy Star logo.

Other energy saving tips:

1. Don’t use a screen saver. Screen savers are not necessary on modern monitors and studies show they actually consume more energy than allowing the monitor to dim when it’s not in use.
2. Turn down the brightness setting on your monitor. The brightest setting on a monitor consumes twice the power used by the dimmest setting.
3. Turn off peripherals such as printers, scanners and speakers when not in use.
4. Fight phantom power; plug all your electronics into one power strip and turn the strip off when you are finished using your computer. When feasible, unplug the power strip from the wall to avoid high-voltage surges which may occur during an electrical storm.
5. Use a laptop instead of a desktop. Laptops typically consume less power than desktops.
6. Close unused applications and turn off your monitor when you’re not using it.
7. Use a power meter to find out how much energy your computer actually consumes and to calculate your actual savings.
8. Establish multiple power schemes to address different usage models. For example, you can create a power scheme for playing music CDs that shuts off your hard drive and monitor immediately, but never puts your system into standby mode.