Make Your PC Greener

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Everyone is trying to do their part for the environment these days, and we get a lot of questions about the impact of computers on the environment.  Here are a few tips that can help you out.

The biggest environmental impact your PC makes is power.  Every hour your PC is on is more energy burned.  So the number one trick for reducting environmental impact is TURN IT OFF.  If you can turn off your PC at night, you’re already reducing the power consumption by half.

Aside from turning off your PC, it’s a great idea to use Windows and OS X built in power management tools.  For OS X, just go to System Preferences and select Power Management, there you can control how long until the hard drive powers down, the screen goes blank, or the machine goes to sleep.  For Windows, go to the control panel to find similar options.

Some Windows users ask about Standby versus Hibernate.  Techinically Hibernate is a deeper form of sleep, which takes longer to go into and get out of, but saves more power.

A few people have asked about screen savers.  Remember that screen savers do not save energy.  They also are not needed by today’s modern LCD screens.  They’re now officially just for fun.  You can use your power management tools to put your screen to sleep/off, which is best for the environment and your screen.

Finally, don’t forget to buy EnergyStar rated products – this applies to computers, monitors, and most any peripherals.  If you have any thoughts or questions about green computing, feel free to chime in below in the comments.

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