Save energy using your PC

dotcouk

Thought that this was worth sharing - an bit of software that you install on your computer that can save energy - how does it work?

"it automatically optimizes your PC's power consumption by using a more effective power save mode. You will be able to see your savings in real-time translated to more environmental terms such as how many trees and gallons of oil you have saved."

In english, it changes your computer power settings, so your cooling fan dosnt work too hard, and if you are not using your PC for a while, the application will turn off your monitor, and switch off your computer.

It's easy to configure, easy to install, and best of all its free.

Oh yes, here is the link to LocalCooling.

Hope it helps.


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Target

Unfortunately doesn't work on Vista.

miss_corerupted

ooo i might try try to ask in work if they can check this out and install it to all the computers! We have hundreds across the country and i went in my local office last fri and turned off a total of 22 monitors, 6 computers, 5 printers and 3 photocopiers that would have been left on all weekend (it really annoys me)

geordie_joe

miss_corerupted wrote: »

ooo i might try try to ask in work if they can check this out and install it to all the computers!

Don't bother, it doesn't really do anything that wondows can't do it's self. Apart from making up a few numbers and telling you that's how many trees you are saving!

Get your techies to set the computers to hibernate if not used for a certain length of time and it will do the same job.

miss_corerupted

if it's hibernating doeas that mean it's off or still using power?

Some of the people in work annoy they always say things like what's the point unless everyone does etc, they are just lazy and wasteful

geordie_joe

miss_corerupted wrote: »

if it's hibernating doeas that mean it's off or still using power?

Hibernating means it is using almost no power, just enough to watch for you bringing it back out of hibernation. In fact it is, I'm told, using less electricity that if you switch it off by the button on the front but leave the socket switched on.

miss_corerupted wrote: »

Some of the people in work annoy they always say things like what's the point unless everyone does etc, they are just lazy and wasteful

I know, it's the same here. To make maters worse the outsourced IT people tell us to leave the computers switched on all the time as they do software updates etc after work hours.

When I pointed out that the computers had "wake up on lan" and the it bods could turn them back on remotely, do the updates then turn them off again, I got told I was being stupid and that it was impossible.

But then again, when ever you asked them to do something they didn't know how to do they always said it was impossible.

Telling them the previous in house IT department remotely switched off the computers at 7.45 every night did not help.

The point is, if you have a computer connected to a network, and it has "wake up on lan" then you can run a script from the server at a certain time that switches all the computers off.

You can also set each computer to go into hibernation if it is not used for a certain time.

Take a look at this

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/d48c9f1d-2e69-4e6d-b949-5c4df1b0b9f91033.mspx

I think it's for vista, but should be relevant for XP.

Cardew

geordie_joe wrote: »

Take a look at this

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/d48c9f1d-2e69-4e6d-b949-5c4df1b0b9f91033.mspx

I think it's for vista, but should be relevant for XP.

On XP just go to 'Control panel' and 'Power Options'

The rest is self explanatory.

geordie_joe

Cardew wrote: »

On XP just go to 'Control panel' and 'Power Options'

The rest is self explanatory.

I'm sure it is, but people's computer skills vary and some need a bit more than just

"go to 'Control panel' and 'Power Options' The rest is self explanatory."