Feburary 2
TURN OFF COMPUTER TO SAVE MONEY
After you have finished using your computer for the day, take 5 minutes to turn it off. This is important because your computer can consume up to 142.2 watts of electricity, which is more almost any other appliance in your home. In fact the only 2 appliances that take more wattage is your coffeemaker whenever it is brewing and your microwave oven. If you do not want to completely turn off your computer whenever you are not using it, then at least set it up to go into “hibernate.” This will power down your monitor to about 5 watts and your PC to 2 watts, which is very similar to turning your computer off completely. Regardless as to which of these things you choose to do, you will be able to save at least $90 a year by doing one of them.
If you would like to save even more money whenever it comes to your computer, here are some other things that you can do:
1. Configure your monitor so that it will turn off after 20 minutes of inactivity.
2. Configure your hard drive so that it will turn off after 30 minutes of inactivity.
3. Configure your computer to go into sleep mode (also known as “standby”) after 90 minutes of inactivity. Unfortunately Windows NT systems does not have this mode, so you should make sure that you always turn off your monitor whenever you are not using it.
4. Whenever you are leaving your computer for more than 2 hours, turn it, your monitor and your printer off or place them in “standby.”
5. Do not be fooled by screen savers. These continue to use the monitor’s full power and therefore they do not conserve energy.
6. Do not turn on your computer, monitor or printer until you actually need to use them.
Your computer can save you a lot of money when you go on line to find deals and coupons, don’t let it use up those savings by letting your computer use more electricity than necessary.
