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Power saving advice from Microsoft
If you’re not interested in getting the latest graphics cards and/or power supplies then the amount of power used by your computer is probably not uppermost in your thoughts. The closest I normally get is trying to get the most life out of my notebook battery on the train.
You can worry about power from a environmental point of view or the amount of damage it’s doing to you bank account via electricity bills. Monte Enbysk has covered some of the myths about turning a computer off at night. Screensavers don’t save energy and the only way to get the power consumption of the computer to zero is to unplug it from the wall.
There are some other ideas in the Greening your PC article. They range from another suggestion to turn the thing off to using alternative energy sources. Collecting enough electricity for running a normal desktop via solar power is probably not that realistic unless you have very deep pockets but there are plenty of more realistic alternatives like the Power Traveller Solargorilla or a solar powered Bluetooth headset.
wow,thats nice
posted-by admanzion | October 22, 2009 3:41 PM
I have read the article by Monte Enbysk but I've also read one with LogiTech's CEO in an interview about them using some kind of new technology whereby they can remote control a pc even when it is turned off, but NOT unplugged from the mains socket!
This is because and I quote from Monte Enbysk's article:
Your computer uses zero energy when “off.” That’s true only if it is unplugged. Otherwise, the PC utilizes “flea power,” or about 2.3 watts, to maintain local-area network connectivity, among other things
Apparently LogiTech have devised a way to utilise the flea power to "remote Control" pc's.
Now we all know how malisciouly clever hackers can be and I would say that it won't be long before someone exploits this security hole and we have our first cases of stolen data from "switched off" PCs!
So apart from the energy saving pluspoint for security reasons everyone would be well advised to not only power down their PCs but also pull the plug from the socket.
As the old adage goes "better safe than sorry(or a few quid in the back pocket)"
posted-by Roy Smith | October 23, 2009 7:54 PM
Thank you for this post. Interesting information.
posted-by Sandrine Beauclerc | October 27, 2009 9:23 AM
I think Microsoft is also partnering with utility companies to upload electricity usage data to the system, including Seattle City Light and Xcel Energy...hope so..
posted-by pasangikchin | November 7, 2009 3:35 PM
Useful information. It will be very useful for guys like me
posted-by Thomson Grub | November 8, 2009 2:39 AM