Simple tips save power and the environment

Computers and computer peripherals consume dramatic amounts of electricity every year, draining your budget and contributing to greenhouse gases.

But for little or no money, you can reduce the number of watts your system and peripherals use, saving cash and limiting the environmental damage.

What’s the easiest way to go green?
Too often, grand concepts like “green computing” are like the weather: everyone talks about it, but nobody does anything. Like it or not, the construction and use of computers still involves hazardous materials and the production of greenhouse gases. Is there anything you can do now without waiting for the perfectly constructed, solar-powered, recyclable computer? Fortunately, the answer is yes.

Without spending any money at all, you can reduce your power usage (saving on climate-changing CO2) and lower your electrical bill at the same time. And, if you’re willing to spend a little on a couple of useful gadgets, you may be able to save even more. Here are a handful of ways to save money while you save the earth.

To sleep, perchance to save
Many of us think nothing of leaving our computers powered up while we go to lunch or even 24 hours a day. A study in PC World found that a running computer consumes between 195 and 305 watts, while a computer in suspend mode can consume as little as 10 watts. Hibernation mode consumes slightly less at 9 watts of power (assuming the PC remains plugged into the wall socker), but hibernation takes longer than suspend mode to wake up from.

You probably already know that Windows provides options for both modes via the Power Options control panel. But Windows consults your BIOS to decide exactly what to do in suspend mode. Most modern BIOSes follow the Advanced Configuration & Power Interface (ACPI), an open power-management standard that was developed by HP, Intel, Microsoft, Phoenix, and Toshiba. (You can download a PDF version of the ACPI spec from the ACPI.

Depending on your particular BIOS, you may be able to choose from any of the following states:

S1. In this state, the CPU stops processing but remains powered. RAM is also powered, but some devices may be powered down.

S2. This option, omitted from many BIOSes, is like S1 but also shuts down power to the CPU.

S3. This state leaves RAM powered, but not much else. This “suspend-to-RAM” feature is what lets you resume where you left off, since your computer’s state is still in memory.

S4. This state powers down RAM, requiring your data to be written to the hard disk if it is to be preserved. It provides only marginal power savings over S3, but is the safest mode for your data if power is cut off entirely. This scheme corresponds to Windows hibernation mode, and is seldom found as a BIOS suspend option.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How To Avoid Hacker Attacks On Firefox

Security problems with Microsoft’s dominant Internet Explorer browser helped pave the way for Mozilla Firefox to emerge as a perfect alternative for Web surfers. However, Firefox users should be aware that hackers can exploit software flaws and design features to launch drive-by attacks. Following are steps to disable various features in Mozilla Firefox. Note that some menu options may change between versions or may appear in different locations depending on the host operating system. You should adapt the steps below as appropriate. The following configuration changes, can disable various features and set up the browser to run in a secure state, limiting the damage from malware attacks. To get started, select Tools, then Options. firefox You will then see an Options window that has a row of categories along the top. The first category of interest is the General category. Under this section, for instance, you can set Firefox as your default browser. firefox Under the Privacy category, y...
Read more

Firefox, now on TV

It’s remarkable enough that the Internet has come so far that an ad about a browser isn’t out of the ordinary, but it’s even more remarkable that these ads were made by Firefox fans off their own back, and paid to air by the same. It all started last year when the Mozilla foundation started the Firefox Flicks campaign, in an effort to drive grass-roots support and generate short, fan-made, 30 second clips. Naturally, these could be shared across the Net and drive awareness for the browser. The program was so successful over 200 entries were submitted, and while there are plenty that wouldn’t have a hope of seeing the light of day, some are actually quite well made and genuinely entertaining. The full list of entrants starts here and includes funny and humorous entries including this one that actually cracked me up. You’ll also find the bizarre, ninjas (can’t go wrong there), the clubby, the crazy, the animated, and I swear I know people like this. There’s even an Aussie themed entry. T...
Read more

How to run Microsoft Update using Firefox

The IE Tab extension lets you switch between Firefox and IE rendering. Once installed, I had no trouble using the IE Tab add-on to run Microsoft Update. According to Mozilla’s Web site, the IE Tab works with Firefox versions 1.5 through 3.0a5. I used it with 2.0.0.6. To install the IE Tab, go to the add-ons site using the above link. Choose Install Now. The installer will restart Firefox when finished or prompt you to do so before the changes will take effect. To add the IE Tab button to your Firefox Toolbar, right-click the toolbar and choose Customize. Drag the IE Tab icon and drop it where you want it. When clicked, the IE Tab button will swap rendering engines. Once you’ve done this, you can use Firefox with Scheduled Tasks in XP; however, keep in mind that only administrators can install updates. The scheduling steps are slightly different from the ones provided in the last issue: Step 1: Choose Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Scheduled Tasks. Step 2: In the Schedu...
Read more