Everyone these days is looking to lower their energy bills and find ways to reduce their carbon footprint on the planet.
Claims have been made that stated the manufacturing and use of computer hardware may be contributing to such environmental factors as global warming, in some cases being so extreme as to rival the cost of operating a refrigerator each month. Not only is this not good for your utility costs, it’s also not good for the environment. This is why Green PCs have always been a topic in the media.
Here are some useful information you can use to help understand what is meant by eco-friendly hardware, as well as ways to save you money in the process of “going green”.
1. Power Supply
Using a power supply that is 80 Plus Certified will assure 80% efficiency across 20%, 50%, and 100% loads.
2. Monitor
A flat panel LCD monitor uses around 1/3 less energy than CRT monitors of the same size. The configuration of your monitor can also help to conserve energy. By selecting the “turn off” or “power saving mode” after twenty minutes of inactivity, you can cut down on wasted energy. You can also choose for the hard drive to shut down after thirty minutes of inactivity. To make these adjustments, simply go the Power Options icon on the Widows Control Panel.
Adjusting the brightness of the computer monitor is also another great energy saving tip. Not all situations require the use of the brightest monitor setting, for example, in darker rooms less brightness is needed because the screen can be seen clearly. Reducing the brightness reduces the amount of energy consumed, and in turn saves you money.
Enabling the power saving feature on the monitor is also a good energy saving idea. This will allow the monitor to go into a “sleep” state and the monitor will then “wake” automatically when it detects motion from the keyboard or mouse.
3. Turn The Computer Off When Not In Use
In spite of popular belief, shutting down the computer on a daily basis can actually be a good habit when it comes to proper maintenance of the PC. When away from the computer either at home or at the office for a period of longer than two hours, shut the machine down to save energy and money. If you don’t want to actually shut down the machine, consider using the standby or hibernation mode instead. Both are good alternatives to leaving the computer on constantly.
4. Upgrade Video Card If Computer Is Used For Gaming
If you use your computer a lot for gaming, consider upgrading to a newer video card. Video cards made by manufacturers such as AMD and Nvidia are now not only more powerful than older models, but also more efficient and use less energy. This means a better gaming experience that leaves less impact on the environment and on the pocketbook.
[Read also: Are Video Games Draining My Power Bill?]
5. Learn The Truth About Screensavers
Some people think that screensavers actually save energy. In fact, the exact opposite is true. A screensaver actually constantly uses the full power of the monitor. These were originally designed to prevent the images on the screen from “burning into” the monitor, not to save energy.
6. Choose A Laptop Over A Separate Computer And Monitor
Laptops use much less energy than a desktop PC and monitor combination. For most people, they serve the same purpose. Plus, the laptop is highly portable, making it almost more desirable than a standard PC set up. To make your laptop even more efficient, when not in use, disable the computer’s Bluetooth and WiFi capabilities to preserve longer battery life. You might be able to get several more minutes or even hours from the battery by doing so.
As you see, there are several things you can do with your existing PC or laptop to make it “greener”. By making a few adjustments, or upgrading certain components, you can save on utility costs while leaving a smaller carbon footprint on the environment. This is good news for both you and our planet.
So how do you make your computer “greener”? Let us know in the comments.
The last computer I bought I remember reading a little booklet that came with it that said I should never turn it off. To me that is just a huge waste of energy. Why would I want to leave it running 24-7. I can’t believe it encouraged people to do so.
I remember when they used to tell us to use a screen saver so it wouldn’t burn into the screen. I haven’t used a screen saver in so long now, I’m not even sure where to find it or what the standard one looks like anymore. I do have an old monitor that has some kind of test burned into it though. Not sure how it got that way because someone gave it to me a long time ago.
Nothing wrong with going green and doing our part to help conserve energy or the environment. Even if it’s just a little.
Even though screensavers help prevent image burning, we might as well switch off our screen to let it fully rest. By going green, we prolong the lifespan of our computers when we switch them off, not to mention save more money in the long run from maintenance and the electricity bills. Thanks for stopping by, Ray 🙂
Thanks for this great bunch of tips! Much required for the society to function better and live in a more sustainable environment.
I’d say everyone go with the laptop option already. Advances in tech continue to make them smaller, more powerful and more power efficient.
More importantly, the decision to go greener comes right at the purchase, thus choosing a more power efficient computer model goes a long way in greening tech and reducing costs as well.
If you’re going green and for mobility, laptops are an undoubted winner. However, there are still reasons to go for a desktop computer over a laptop, such as hardcore gaming and professional graphic work where they have other priorities. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Charlie!
Thanks for sharing these tips for making environment more better. These days laptop is really a better option as compared to desktops. Turn off the computer when not in use is really important and save lot of energy.
Great article! I’ve known that you should turn all electronics off when not in use, but the fact that screensaver can matter is really interesting. I would just add that I wish all laptops had solar batteries too, or at least solar batteries should be easy available for wide public
Laptops have custom power demands and solar panels need to be quite a huge size to absorb enough energy for an average laptop. If the efficiency of solar energy conversion can be improved, it would definitely be a beneficial addition to green technology. Thanks for the comment, Victoria! Hope to see you around.
Really interesting post peter. By making positive changes like changing GPU card, screensavers and more we can make our computer greener. Very creative post. Thank you.
Hey thanks for this amazing tips, I use my laptop for more than 12 hours and I have to charge it twice in a day. I am going to follow these things and see if it increases battery life of my laptop or not. Even I have got one suggestion which I guess every one should take care of and that is – every one should turn off caps lock, num lock and scroll lock when not in use ! 😀 Just kidding.