Different computer monitors use vastly different amounts of electricity.

*Based on PG&E average commercial rate of $0.16528 per kilowatt hour

**Using power-management setting

Source: Climate Savers Computing Initiative; Chronicle research

Above is a chart that shows how much power can be saved by using a power management setting on your LCD monitor. By using the power management setting, you can reduce energy usage by up to 90%.

If you use Windows XP or other forms of Windows, you can modify the screen saver settings like this:

Right click on the background display and click on Properties. You will get a Display Properties box

Here, you can choose to use a blank screen saver or any other screen savers you choose. Keep in mind that a blank screen saver can save the most energy because using a graphics screen saver can use just as much energy as not using a screen saver. If you click on the “Power” button, you can choose more power options such as turning off the monitor, hard disks, system standy and hibernate.

Here are the settings that I have on my home computer. You should definitely have the settings turned on for turning off the monitor and hard disks after a certain amount of time. If you tend to leave your computer on for a long time, it is also a good idea to enable the system standby and hibernate mode.

In the Hibernate tab, you should have the “Enable Hibernation” button checked.

Here is the difference between hibernation vs Standby mode.

Hibernate saves the system information by writing a hibernation file that contains the contents of the memory (RAM) and is basically a snapshot of the active state and then pretty much turns the computer off. When you come out of hibernation, the previous active state is restored to the way it was before the hibernation.

Standby turns off the power consuming components such as the hard disks and monitor and puts the computer in a low power state.

There are pros and cons to both as Hibernate can take longer to come back up but it is almost like turning off your computer. Standby mode still uses some power but your computer comes back up a lot faster.

As for purchasing computers, there are several websites that can help provide resources for finding energy efficient computers such as the nonprofit Climate Savers Computing Initiative and EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool). EPEAT awards bronze, silver, and gold ratings to computers and monitors based on different environmental criterias.

via: SFGate