PC power (Minutes, Free)

If you're reading this article, you're most likely using some form of personal computer. PCs are great tools, but often waste power when they aren't being actively used. One way to diminish this power consumption is to manually turn off the monitor when you get up or to go ahead and shutdown the PC. It can be inconvenient to shutdown the PC if you expect to be right back, and sometimes it's easy to forget the PC is on when life's distractions come knocking. Fortunately, power management software is built into most operating systems and can be used to reduce AFK power consumption by turning off parts of the computer when they are idle.

For most Microsoft Windows versions, look in Control Panel for "Power Options". It should look similiar to the picture. Pick reasonable values for your situation for your PCs.

"Monitor" determines the amount of idle time before putting most monitors into a low power energy saving mode. The screen will usually go blank and the power light will turn from green to orange or yellow to show that it is in low power mode.

"Hard Disks" tells your hard drives to park their heads and go to low power mode.

"Standby" puts your PC into a very low power mode, but leaves the keyboard and mouse active. The three modes above require either a keypress or mouse movement to wake the PC back up to full power. Some older PCs and older Windows versions may not support standby mode.

"Hibernate" is the lowest power mode. It writes data from memory to the hard drive, turns off all power. Hitting the power button after a hibernate will re-open any files and documents you had open. For more information on standby and hibernate, see Microsoft's explanation: Use Standby and Hibernate

Most CRT monitors use a lot more power than similiar sized flat panel displays, typically twice as much. Next time you buy a PC or the monitor needs to be replaced, consider getting an Energy Star flat screen display. They are often competetive with CRTs when purchased with a new system or found on sale.

Laptops are always charging their battery when plugged in. You may want to unplug the laptop once its fully charged, if you are not actively using it, to save some power.