Environmental Impact of Computer Usage

Monitors

Standby

Power-Down settings

Enable any energy-saving modes

Use energy-efficient monitors, usually marked with the energy star sticker

Reduce the Brightness of the monitor as much as possible

Operating systems offer settings used to alter the energy consumption of a system

Power down the desktop or laptop after a set period of inactivity

Use similar settings on individual components to further reduce energy consumption

Power down monitors after a set period of inactivity

Set minimum and maximum power usage settings for the processor

Change wireless adapter power usage

Turn hard drive off after a period of inactivity

Higher settings use more energy

Lower settings result in a less powerful processor

Most smartphones and tablets go into a standby mode after a period of inactivity. Computers go into one of two modes;

Standby

Hibernate

Data for software still running is temporarily saved for later use

Power to all other components is severely or entirely reduced

RAM is still powered

The hard drive saves a permanent copy of all data used by running software

Hibernate mode can turn most components to a lower level of energy use than Standby

RAM is shutdown after it's contents are copied to the hard drive

Standby / Hibernate or Shutdown?

Because a surge in power is required to restart the components, it often saves more energy to instead run on a small amount of energy than to use a large amount all at once

These also have extra energy saving modes