Saving Energy with Your Computer
May 10, 2009 – 1:09 am by Lindsay
While we’d all like to deck out our houses and condo buildings with full arrays of solar panels, that’s an expensive proposition and not one we’re all ready to make. We can all, however, be more energy efficient.
Not only does improved energy efficiency lower our monthly bills, but it makes us less reliant on the power grid and less vulnerable to rate hikes as well. In time, we’ll look at ways to use less energy in every room in the house (and outside as well), but today let’s talk about the home office. Specifically, let’s get geeky and look at our computers.
Energy Efficiency and the Home Computer
Not that many years ago, I had a big flashing “gaming” tower computer that had two fans and sucked up 400 watts of energy all the time it was on. Sheesh.
Since then I’ve gone Mac.
Examples of fabulously efficient computers from Apple are the Macbook Pro laptop and the desktop iMac. Both units are plenty powerful enough for gamers, and both are energy efficient compared to many other options out there. The small MacBook Air laptop is even better (all around Apple does a good job creating energy efficient products).
Still, you don’t have to become a Mac convert in order to choose a more energy efficient computer. If you’re shopping around, a laptop will generally use less power than a desktop or tower-based PC unit.
And even some of today’s desktops (such as the previously mentioned iMac) use flat-screen technology and have the processing unit incorporated right into the screen housing. This makes them just as efficient as laptops (though it’s a foregone conclusion that a computer with a 24″ monitor–even if it’s built in–is going to use more energy than one with a 17″ or even a 13″ one).
Maximizing Energy Conservation with the Computer You Have
Even if you’re not shopping for a new (or a new-used) computer, you can save energy with the one you already have.
Make sure to set your unit to “sleep” after a certain period of inactivity, and turn off the computer completely if you’re leaving for more than a short time. (If you’re always in the middle of something and hate to lose your place, check into programs such as Firefox, a web browser that “remembers” all the different sites you have open and offers to reload them all when you turn the computer back on.)
Also, plug your computer and associated electronics into a power strip or surge protector, and flip off the strip when you’re turning off your computer. This lets you turn off your router, modem, printer, and computer at once. (Many of these units draw power even when they’re not turned on, but if there’s no power available, they’ll truly be “off.”)
