Power Management

Turn Off Your Computer When It Isn't Needed

The simplest and most effective means of conserving energy when computing is to turn off your computer, monitor, printer and other peripherals when they aren't being used. Powering your system off and on does no harm to the equipment. If you leave your computer running overnight or on weekends, you may be consuming more electricity when you are away from your PC than when you are in front of it. Follow these guidelines to conserve energy and extend the life of your equipment:

  • Turn off your equipment when you leave your office or dorm for more than one hour. If you use your computer in an office setting, make absolutely certain to do this when you leave for the night or the weekend.

  • Learn how to power off all the peripheral devices attached to your computer. These include printers, speakers, MP3 players, digital cameras, scanners. Turn them off and leave them off until you need them again -- even if you will be using the computer in the meantime.

  • Resist thinking of your computer as an always-on device. Power it on only when you need to actively work with it. Turn it off if you are away from your desk in meetings or at classes, or if you have non-computer activities to perform, such as reading, grading or filing.

Enable Power Management

When your computer or printer is up and running, there will be short periods when you aren't working with it. The U.S. Energy Star program requires that all devices with the Energy Star seal be able to enter a low-power "sleep" or "standby" state after a designated period of inactivity. Moving the mouse or pressing a key on the keyboard "wakes" the device when you are ready to use it again. It is a virtual certainty that your computer has this capability -- but you have to ensure that it is enabled.

Always for Your Monitor

Deciding to enable power management for your monitor couldn't be simpler. Monitors enter and return from standby mode very quickly. Configuring monitor power management is no more complicated that setting up a screen saver. (See instructions below). But, unlike a screen saver, power management actually reduces energy consumption. Columbia recommends that you set your monitor to enter standby after no more than 15 minutes of inactivity.

Probably for Your Computer Too

Like your monitor, your computer can also be configured to enter standby mode after a certain period of inactivity. Configuration is simple. You should know, however, that "waking" your computer from standby takes a moment. Applications that you have running may also pause while reconnecting to the network after normal operations begin. Columbia recommends that you set your computer to enter standby after 30 minutes of inactivity and suggests that you take a few minutes to experiment with entering and exiting standby mode so that you feel comfortable with the procedure.

Some computers allow you to shut down your hard disks after a period of inactivity. This setting is independent of the one you use to place the entire computer on standby. Columbia recommends that you enable this feature after no more than 15 minutes of inactivity.

Laptops and some desktops also offer a "hibernate" mode in which the computer completely shuts down (instead of entering a low-power standby mode) but resumes operating in the same state as when it entered hibernation. This is a more complicated procedure than waking from standby and may cause application errors. Use this feature only if you understand its effects on your system.

And Don’t Forget Your Printer or Copier

Energy Star-compliant printers and copiers also enter a standby state when inactive. Take a moment to review the instructions that came with your equipment and make certain that power management has been enabled.

Instructions for Enabling Power Management

On Windows computers, power management settings can be accessed by clicking Start>Control Panel>Display>Screen Saver>Power.

On Macintosh computers running OS 9, these settings can be accessed by clicking Apple Menu>Control Panels>Energy Saver>Sleep Setup. For OS X, the location is Apple Menu>Show All>Energy Saver (on the Hardware row).

For detailed instructions, including screen shots showing each step in the configuration process, consult the Energy Star site.

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