PC Power

What

In just 20 seconds you could improve your computer's energy efficiency and lifespan, whilst cutting your electricity bills. What are you waiting for?

All you have to do to prevent this is change a few basic settings on your computer, so that the monitor turns off when inactive and the system goes into hibernate when not in use. As always, there are ways to step the challenge up a notch or two too... read on for more info.

Why

By improving the energy efficiency of your computer you would save energy and as much as £17 from your electricity bill each year, right now1.

Shockingly, a third of business computers in the UK are left switched on overnight, costing British businesses more than £300m a year in extra electricity bills.2

How

It really is very easy.

The main thing is to set your device to go to sleep after 5 to 20 minutes of inactivity. If using a laptop or tablet, make sure you adjust settings for both power and battery states.

You can find instructions on how to do that for various operating systems here:

There are several handy apps like Caffeine for Mac that allow you to override these settings with one simple click - perfect for that important presentation when you really don’t want your laptop going to sleep!

Seven more pointers to optimise your computer’s energy efficiency:

  1. Dim your monitor or screen to save battery and reduce energy use
  2. Peripherals and the WiFi sensor also drain energy from your computer, so disconnect them and turn wifi off when not in use.
  3. Close down applications when not in use - they’ll also be draining energy and slowing your device down.
  4. Screensavers don't save energy - in fact, they often use more. Put your monitor to sleep rather than activating screensavers
  5. Turn it off if not in use. There’s a small surge in energy when you turn a device on, but this is quickly outweighed by the savings from turning it off. As a general rule of thumb:
    - Not using it for 20 mins or more? Turn the monitor off.
    - Not using it for 2 hours or more? Turn the computer off completely.
  6. Use a power strip so you can completely turn all your computing gadgets off with one switch when not in use for extended periods (weekends, holidays etc), minimising ‘vampire loads’ (this is a bigger issue with older devices).
  7. When it’s time to replace your device, look for ones with the Energy Star rating - they use 30% - 65% less energy than others.

Mobile phones: While you're at it, how about optimising your phone's battery life and energy efficiency too? Check out these 15 simple steps to extend your phone's battery life.