Tune your gadget to save power

Times of India Mumbai,23^rd Aug Page 21

 

Right Purchase of Electronic Items, Minor Adjustment Can Minimise Monthly Bills

 

Kavita Kukday | TNN

 

   Can’t live with, can’t live without is probably true for two types of relationships for most of us. The first one of course is your spouse and the second these days’ rings true for electricity—more so if you have lots of gadgets. But the huge monthly bills probably make you wish you could live without electricity. Well, here are some simple measures that could help you shave off at least 20% from your bill.

Don’t keep gadgets in sleep mode:

That gadgets hardly consume any electricity when in sleep mode, is a myth. A DVD player or audio system can use up to 50-odd watts per hour, when in sleep mode. Even power adapters and chargers draw 1-2 watts when you leave them plugged in. So the first thing to do is, unplug all unused external power supplies because they can draw energy even when they’re not connected to a device.
   Apart from adding to your bill, leaving devices in sleep mode also pumps CO2 into the atmosphere. For instance, a single ‘sleeping’ PC contributes about 907 kg of CO2 annually, say analysts.
   So remember to turn off any device when not in use.
   But what about occasions when you must leave your PC on? In those cases make sure it goes into a lowpower sleep, suspend or hibernate mode—the last uses the least amount of energy.
   On a Windows XP computer, click on ‘Power Options’ in the Control Panel to set the number of minutes before Windows will turn off the monitor and hard disk or put the system into standby or hibernate mode.
   On a PC running Vista, type ‘Power Options’ in the search box at the bottom of the ‘Start’ menu and click on ‘Change when the computer sleeps’. Whatever the operating system, it’s a good idea having it go into sleep, standby or hibernate after about 20 minutes of inactivity. The shorter the period, the more energy you save.

Install power monitoring software:

All the above will help given that your system is in perfect shape, which is not the case most often. Which is why it’s a good idea to install monitoring software such as CO2 Saver (co2saver.snap.com).This is a free program for Windows XP and Vista that gives you a simple control panel to specify when to turn off monitors and disk drives and put the machine to sleep. If you have a small business or work from home, you could buy a program such as NightWatchman (www.1e.com) or Verdiem (www.verdiem.com)—these offer remote control over all the hardware in your company.

Shop green:

The best idea of course is to shop green to begin with. Many hardware providers these days are coming out with devices that comply with EU guidelines for green computing. So when buying a new PC, ensure that it meets these guidelines. Consider getting a laptop instead of a desktop computer.
   Laptops are designed to run on batteries, so they’re equipped with chips and drives that draw less power to begin with. Besides, since the screen is integrated, a laptop has only one power supply in use.
   If you must get a desktop then use an LCD screen instead of a CRT monitor—LCDs consume about 66% less power.
   Similarly certain hard drives are optimised for efficient power consumption. Seagate’s 160 GB 2.5-inch drive, for instance, uses one-fourth the energy of an equivalent 3.5-inch drive, claims the company. Then there are new Green Power drives from Western Digital that claim to consume 40% less power compared to others.
   Another good idea is to get a machine with a low-voltage processor like the Intel Core 2 Duo or one with AMD’s ‘Cool and Quiet’ technology.