As a techies, we firmly believe that technology holds the key to solving most big societal problems like energy consumption and pollution. Yet while this notion is close to our hearts, we look for answers using tech tools that require constant energy. Most computer users I know keep their pcs on 24/7. When I worked in corporate IT, my company had a significant budget line item on the expense sheet for something called KTLO -- Keep The Lights On. So we use a heck of a lot of energy, but there's good news. We've figured out ways to reduce energy requirements of chips in half, switched to LCDs which use FAR less power than CRTs, and lined our offices with efficient fluorescent bulbs. And there's more good news around the corner. High emitting LEDs can throw vast amounts of light using very little power. Laptops are replacing desktops as the pc of choice, which are also far more efficient. However one of the greatest power saving features of pcs is vastly underutilized: the s3 power state.
You can save over $30 a month in energy bills simply by making a few registry hacks and letting your machine power down. In the past, Windows had problems waking up properly and responding to network requests in a low power state, but today things are much better. I urge everyone to give this a shot, it will save you money and best of all helps reduce wasteful energy consumption.
Click Here for Details on Setting Up S3 Power State