By turning off your computer when its doing nothing you save money!
How to use your computer in a ’green’ way?
In eight out of ten Dutch households, there is at least one
computer. Unnoticed the computer consume much electricity each year - even if the computer is turned off. If you unplug the computer from the outlet, it will save you fifty Euro on your electricity costs.
The environmental impacts of the computers are the electricity consumption and the raw materials with which they are made. Computers contain heavy metals and brominated flame retardants. Hardware often is waste before it is worn, because computers relatively quickly obsolete.
For desktop computers, a lot of energy consumption is derived by the screen. A conventional type consumes more than a flat screen (LCD) of the same size. Another thing is the electricity consumption during standby: a few hours per day creates a large amount of electricity consumption a year. A portable computer (laptop) consumes relatively little energy.
Tips
- Turn off your computer if it’s not in use, even during an hour break, and don’t put it stand-by but turn it off. It is a misconception that repeatedly turning the PC off is bad for the PC.
- When purchasing a computer, think in the future. When it is possible to add some faster components, you do not need one completely new system in the future. So there won’t be unnecessary use of limited resources. Moreover, it is cheaper.
- Consider an LCD display, it’s using less energy.
- It is a myth that screen savers save energy. Animated screensavers use even more energy than a program like Word. 3D animations certainly cost quite a bit of computing power, and energy.
- Portable computers are more economical than ordinary computers.
Computers and the Environment
The biggest part of the environmental impact of desktop computers is energy consumption, or electricity usage. In second place, the energy required for production and waste disposal. For portable computers the proportion is different. Laptops consume far less energy. The output energy is approximately equal to the amount of energy required for use.
Newer versions of computers replacing older computers in a fast pace. They become obsolete relatively quickly. Owners often choose for a new model before the old computer is physically worn out. This rapid rotation requires a relatively big amount of raw materials and provides additional environmental costs.
Did you know that...?
The main electricity consumers of the desktop computer are the system unit and monitor. The energy consumption of the system unit and the monitor lies between 130 and 400 watts, depending on processor speed and graphics card.
It is not surprising that a large screen consumes more electricity than small ones. But did you know that a screen with a high resolution usually consumes more electricity?
Heavy metals
Computers are containing (brominated) flame retardants and heavy metals, including copper, lead and tin. These substances are very harmful for the environment. The extraction of these metals is harming the landscape and the processing of ore into usable metal leads to pollution.
Efficient energy usage
You can reduce electricity consumption by the (desktop) computer by using it energy efficient. You can configure the (Windows) computer in its control panel (Advanced power management). You can let the computer turn itself off automatically, when it’s not used for a period of time.
Save on standby and screensaver
A relatively hidden energy consumer is in standby mode. The power in this state is between 6 and 145 watts. That seems not to much, but computers are often longer on stand-by than they are in use, the electricity consumption of this mode can therefore rise.
The energy consumption is dramatically reduced if you minimize the use of stand-by mode. Turn off the computer rather regularly - even if it is an hour break. It is a misconception that repeatedly turning off the computer will harm the computer.
A screensaver doesn’t provide any energy
savings. If it shows complex graphics on the display, it requires more computing power of the computer and therefore energy.
Outlet with switch
By turning your computer off with the on/off button and the computer is still plugged in the socket, the computer will use some electricity. To avoid that, put all the plugs of computer and all peripherals in one outlet with switch on it. Turn that off when your computer is not in use.
Save Plug
You can use
saving plugs. They are also known as Stand-by killer of Power Saver. They prevent unintended energy consumption after use. Save plugs are placed between the outlet and the computer, they turn off the stand-by mode completely.
By using your computer in a smart way, you can save money on your computer usage. You can keep as much time behind your
computer as you do now, and still save some energy and money!
Posted on 25/06/2009 10:52:00 By the editorial, last modification on 26/06/2009 9:55:00
