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Power Savings |
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Do you need to turn off your PC at night?
An Article compiled By We are all interested in conserving energy. The question above is one which many organizations struggle with. Should the PC be turned off or not? The answer isn't easy since often nighttime is used as part of the maintenance cycle for business computers to run antivirus checks, defrag, or anti-spyware scans.
Special Online only article note: If next month's too far away give me a call at the office or send me an email and I'll personally take a look at your current configuration to ensure your computer really is maintaining itself!) For Windows users there is an easy way to take advantage of energy savings and yet not turn your PC off completely each night. Windows has a hibernate mode which can reduce the amount of energy needed to about the same level as having powered it down, while still having it ready to run quickly. If you're a Windows user (Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows Me), just set up your PC to "hibernate" overnight. "Hibernate" powers down your monitor to about 5 watts of energy and your PC to 2.3 watts -- virtually the same as turning your PC off. Either way, you save as much as $90 a year in power costs compared to a PC left on with a 3D screen saver running. The truth is, if you use the "hibernate" feature of Windows XP (and previous versions including Windows 2000 and Windows Me), or even the "sleep" feature of most new Dell and other PC models, it really doesn't matter much. Even the folks at Energy Star agree you save almost as much energy as you do turning off your computer for the night (minus unplugging it). And you won't have to endure a lengthy "re-booting" process the next morning; your computer should "wake up" in 30 seconds or less. Those at Energy Star (www.energystar.gov) still prefer that you turn your computer off at night, for maximum energy savings. "We are all about energy savings, and when you shut off your computer at night, you save the most energy," says Craig Hershberg, program manager for office equipment and consumer electronics. "Every little bit helps. It all adds up." What are the real costs? Lab tests done by Dell show that a PC running Microsoft Office uses 42.7 watts, McCall says. If it runs continuously at that rate for 365 days, at 7 cents per kilowatt-hour, the power consumption costs would be $26.18 for the PC and $45.99 for a regular monitor, for a total of $72.17 for the workstation. Flat-panel monitors use less energy (22 watts when left on, 3.3 watts in "sleep" mode) than regular monitors (75 watts when left on, 5 watts in "sleep" mode), McCall says. So the same workstation with Microsoft Office running for a year would use $39.67 in power with a flat panel. Meanwhile, if a PC was kept in "sleep" mode for 20 hours, for every four hours "on," as Dell recommends, the annual energy costs per PC would total $16.17 with a regular monitor and $9.88 with a flat panel. Using "hibernate," the costs would be slightly cheaper. Enabling "hibernate"As I said, "sleep" mode is available on most newer Dell PCs, among other models, while "hibernate" is available to any user with Windows XP and previous versions from Windows 98 Second Edition on. (The feature was greatly improved for Windows 2000 and Windows Me, and further improved for Windows XP, which wakes faster from "hibernate" than any previous version). To enable "hibernate," simply go to your Control Panel, click on "power options," and set your PC to "hibernate" after a specified time (most recommend 30 minutes). If you are away from your PC a lot during the work day, you may want to set it to "hibernate" after 45 minutes to an hour, and set it to "standby" to 15 minutes. Under "standby," you'll be conserving power but you won't be saving your computer memory onto your hard disk, as you will with "hibernate." "Standby" is meant for shorter absences. As a small business owner I have a great understanding for saving as much as possible when it comes to overhead and expenses and anything we can do to help save power for our already struggling provincial system is I'm sure greatly appreciated! _________________________________________ |
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