Top 10 Ways to Fight
Energy Waste

1. Unplug your devices. It's as simple as that. Pull TV/computer/stereo/etc. power cords out of the outlet. If they're not in use or if they're totally unneccesary (are you really going to ever use that VCR player again?), unplug.

2. Reduce your demand. Sure, electronic gizmos are fun. But do you really need 2 TVs for one room? If the answer is yes, then at least follow No. 6's advice! 

3. Use the other off switch. Many devices also have an 'off' switch in the back. For example, most computers come with one 'soft' power switch on the front, which takes it from standby to on. Separately, there is usually a real 'on/off' switch located in the back on the power supply (near where the power cord goes in).

4. Turn off your power strip. Plug your devices and chargers into a power strip. And when you're not using those devices, turn the strip off.

5. Remove chargers from the wall when you're not charging. Your cell phone charger, iPod charger, laptop charger, etc. keeps drawing electricity even if your phone/Ipod/laptop/etc isn't charging. So if your phone says "Charge complete" (or worse, isn't even attached to your charger), pull the charger out of the wall.

6. Buy Energy Star certified appliances if you're in the market for new stuff. Energy Star takes standby power into account, and devices that qualify for certification draw less energy than others in "off" mode. Some of their best electronic items include cordless phones and audio equipment.

7. Get a cell phone that tells you to unplug it. Nokia will be rolling out new phones with audible alerts that say, "Battery is full, please unplug the charger." This feature will first appear in models 1200, 1208 and 1650 and will most likely debut in Europe..

8. Use a smart strip for your computer accessories. These work really well when it's not feasible to unplug your devices. Check out the Isole Plug Load Control. This power strip saves energy by monitoring occupancy. The Smart Strip Power Strip monitors power differences between computers and peripherals. This way, when you shut down your computer, the Smart Strip automatically shuts off the accessories. The Mini Power Minder also works by communicating between your computer and your accessory.

9. Use a Kill-A-Watt device to measure your electronics' power consumption. It can actually be kind of fun (and definitely enlightening) to run around your house and see how much juice each piece of equipment takes. You'll likely be surprised. (If you want something a little more hardcore, try Watts Up?).

10. Check out the GreenSwitch wireless home energy control system, which let's you cut power to various electronics quite easily. For other whole house devices and monitoring, this interview that might be right up your alley. 

Energy Saving Guidelines for PCs

Personal computers consume significant amounts of energy. Research shows that nobody is using desktop computers for the majority of the time they are running, because people leave them on 24 hours a day. Idling computer monitors across the United States waste approximately $900 million in energy costs each year. By using monitor power management techniques, we could contribute to the equivalent of planting 1,000 to 6,000 square feet of trees or preventing one to four weeks' worth of car emissions.

The federal government's Energy Star program offers a free download with easy, step-by-step instructions that will enable your monitor to go into sleep mode. Using monitor sleep settings does not sacrifice computer performance or interfere with network connections. Rather, it may actually prolong the life of your monitor. And waking up a monitor is as simple as touching the keyboard or mouse, both of which quickly restore the display.

Sleep mode differs from screen saver programs, which merely prevent images from burning into your monitor screen but do nothing to save energy.   In fact, screen savers that display moving images prompt your system to use as much power as when you are actively using the computer.

A misconception is the belief that computers and monitors purchased with the Energy Star logo are already energy efficient.   In reality, they have built in energy conservation features but your computer cannot take full advantage of these built in energy saving mechanisms until the power management features are enabled and configured.

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Doing your part

Beyond using the monitor sleep mode feature, you can also help reduce your computer's energy consumption by developing good power management habits.   A few suggestions include:

• Checking e-mail or using the Internet only when you need to, rather than first thing in the morning so you don't turn on your computer at the start of the day and leave it running;
• Grouping your computer tasks during one or two parts of the day, leaving the system off during other times;
• Turning on different pieces of equipment one at a time, instead of all at once with the switch on a power strip; and
• Turning off your entire computer system, or at least your monitor and printer when you go to lunch or a meeting.