YOUR COMPUTER WILL PRODUCE LESS POLLUTION TOMORROW THAN IT DID YESTERDAY!
As a part of a program run by the Bureau of Energy Conservation to reduce the electricity use in San Francisco City buildings, your monitor has been set for automatic power management. This means that if you don't use your computer for more than 20 minutes your monitor will enter a low power state, which will look like a blank screen saver, using 1/9th the amount of electricity it does when it is full on. The computer still is using power, though -- always shut down the machine at night. (See below for instructions on changing the 20 minute "timeout" setting) Thanks to all of you who are turning off your computers at night. We noticed a significant improvement in turn off rates after the e-mails we sent. UEB is now saving around $1400 a year and preventing the release of around 19 tons of CO2 and other pollutants to the atmosphere a year from those of you who were leaving your computers on and now are turning them off!!
Energy Saving Tips Turn off your equipment at night, after doing a full Windows shutdown Turn off shared equipment if you are the last one in your group to leave Turn off your monitor if you are leaving in the middle of the day but wish to keep your computer on If you wish to change the monitor energy-saver settings in Windows 95/98: 1. Click the Start button and choose Settings/Control Panel. 2. Double-click the Display icon. (Shortcut for steps 1-2: right-click on the Windows background screen, and choose Properties.) 3. In the next dialog box click the Screen Saver tab, and near the bottom next to the Energy Star logo, choose the timeout settings. The "low power standby" offers quick recovery, while the "shut off monitor" takes 15-30 seconds to recover but saves the most power. It doesn't pay to set either of these less than 10 minutes or so. We recommend 20 to 30 minutes. If you have questions please call Roger Picklum at 554-3179. A few facts on the back...
Some Facts About Computers and Energy Savings
Computer manufacturers long ago stopped recommending that machines be left on. Your computer and monitor will last longer if you shut them off at night, like any other equipment. Not only is there less wear and tear due to the machine’s own heat, friction and vibration, but a machine that is switched off is no longer susceptible to power surges and similar hazards. A computer and monitor left on all the time cause about a ton of carbon dioxide to be generated along with the electricity they use. If you keep them on only during working hours, and employ the automatic power management features in your Energy Star equipment, you can cut this down by 80%. (Hetch Hetchy electricity is clean hydro power, of course. But every bit we save gets sold to displace other electricity on the market, most of which is generated by burning natural gas and producing CO2.) Screen savers do not save energy! OK, a little. But not more than about 10% of the monitor’s power.