Energy Consumption: Leaving Your Computer On or Off

There are a varying opinions regarding the energy saving factors of turning off a personal computer when the unit is not in use. Knowing when to turn off your computer can actually lead to some significant financial savings over the course of a year as well as helping to reduce your carbon footprint.

Tip 1: Deciding When to Turn off Your PC

When your personal computer is started up, it consumes a noticeable surge of energy. However, this particular boost of energy is still significantly less than that used when you leave your computer to run unattended for long periods of time.

As a guide, it is recommended that your computer is turned off if it is not going to be used within a 20-minute period. If usage is unlikely to resume within 2 hours, turn off the monitor as well.

Tip 2: Power-Consuming Accessories

All of your ancillary items, such as printers, scanners and monitors, should be plugged into surge protectors. If any of your additional equipment is unlikely to be used during a session, turn the items off using the power strips on the surge protectors to prevent them from drawing electricity. If your accessories are not being powered from a surge protector, simply unplug them from their individual power points. This can lead to a dramatic shift in energy conservation over an extended period of time.

It is important to note that most computers and pieces of associated equipment fail to exceed their projected lifespan because of advances in technology. It is highly unlikely that withdrawing power constantly will have an adverse effect on your computer.

Tip 3: Effective Upgrades

When upgrading your system, try to purchase a model with power-down features or sleep modes for the PC unit and monitor. Computer systems with power-down features automatically shift into low energy usage mode after a set period of inactivity and only use around 15 watts of power.

Try to look for systems with the Energy Star features. Not only do these save energy on the PC unit, but monitor power can be saved on in two different sleep modes. Initially, a monitor will shut down to 15 watts of power but that will be halved again after a further period of inactivity.

Tip 4: Screen Savers

1. It is a common misconception that screen savers actually reduce power usage and preserve the life of a computer. In truth, a PC is likely to use more energy while a screen saver is running. Screen savers can prevent power-down features from working correctly while modern LCD monitors don’t need screen savers at all.               

Tip 5: Vista

There are a number of settings on Window Vista Ultimate and Windows Vista Business that allow you to set up your own energy conservation schedules without having to manually turn off your PC. It is possible to set up your computer to hibernate overnight, reducing the power used by the computer unit to around 2.4 watts. This is effectively the same as turning off a computer in terms of energy usage.