Ê
There's always more to do!
Beyond using the monitor sleep mode feature,
you can also help reduce your computer's energy consumption by developing
good power management habits. A few suggestions include:
- Making smart purchasing decisions: consider buying
low power consuming equipment like LCD screens and laptops instead of
CRT monitors and desktop computers.
- Turning off your peripherals like scanners,
printers, and speakers when you are not using them.
- Turning off your entire computer system
on evenings and weekends when you are sleep or away. Remember, computer
systems consume more power than several light bulbs. If your computer is
supported by the University
or your department, ignore this step because tasks are often run on your
computer overnight.
- Enabling the 'sleep' function for
your hard drive as well.
Carnegie Mellon
University has joined the EPA's
Energy Star Million Monitor Drive!
The Million Monitor Drive is a national ENERGY
STAR campaign that has addressed monitor power management on 1 million
monitors nationwide in 2002. Businesses (Pitney Bowes, Cisco Systems),
institutions of higher education (Harvard University, Penn State), and
governments (Loudoun County, Westchester County) have all joined the
Million Monitor Drive. Carnegie Mellon has pledged to enable power management
on 1,000 monitors on campus in the coming year.
For the US, the Million Monitor Drive is projected
to save 215 million kWh per year. This amounts to:
* $15 million per year saved at 7.1 cents/kWh.
* Enough energy to power over 170,000 households for one month.
* CO2 reductions equivalent to removing 26,000 cars from the road or planting
over 40,000 acres of trees. Ê
Based on the success of 2002, the goal of the Million Monitor Drive is
to address monitor power management on another 2 million monitors nationwide
and double the projected savings.
Click here to learn more about the the Million Monitor Drive
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Screensaver Myth
Screensavers are one way that built-in monitor
management features get defeated. Twenty years
ago,
screensavers
were
important because monitors could wear out quickly, or have words/graphics
‘burned’ in to the screen. Nowadays, however, monitors have improved
and screensavers have become merely decorative; they serve no functional
purpose. A screensaver that shows graphics on your screen does not
turn the monitor off - in fact some screensavers cause the
monitor to use more electricity than during regular use.
If you have installed a screensaver you have most likely disabled
the energy management
settings.
Screensaver Facts
For a 19" Dell Monitor:
Power Consumed in Active (on) Mode = 85 Watts
Screensaver mode: 80-82 Watts
Sleep mode: 1 Watt
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