Going green with your PC

Eco computing labels
Recycling consumables and passing on your old computer to someone else is just one part of the equation. There’s also the way that you use the computer. By choosing the right system and making the right choices about how it’s used, you can have an effect on the power consumption.

So, what makes a system energy efficient? To start with, the power consumption of all the components obviously has a major effect on how much electricity is needed, and whether you’re upgrading or buying from scratch, choosing the right components can help make a difference (see our feature to see how to choose a power supply).

One of the most obvious changes you can make is to replace older analogue CRT monitors with TFT LCD flat-panel models, which consume much less electricity. For example, a typical modern 21in CRT monitor consumes around 130W, while Apple’s 20in widescreen display is rated at 65W, or a massive 50 per cent saving.

In effect, older monitors can be consuming almost as much power as the computers they’re connected to. Unless you have a pressing need (CRTs still have benefits for graphic designers), you really should consider switching – especially now that flat-panel displays are available very cheaply. If you’re passing on a computer, consider sending CRT displays for recycling, and encouraging the recipient to obtain a flat panel – even second hand.

When buying fridges, washing machines and other appliances (even cars), you’ll have seen the stickers giving an indication of energy efficiency. Many of us now look for the more efficient products automatically. But when it comes to computing, where are the stickers?

In fact, there are two main stickers that can be found on computers and monitors – Energy Star and TCO. The Energy Star logo is supported by the US Environmental Protection Agency, and sets minimum standards for computer equipment; in fact. As the website makes clear, it can be applied to a whole range of things, including buildings.

Among the key requirements are that systems should enter sleep mode after 30 minutes of inactivity, and that in this mode, there is a limit on the amount of power consumed – roughly 10 per cent of the maximum. Similar standards for monitors currently specify sleep-mode power consumption of less than 4W, and standby consumption of less than two, although new Energy Star standards are being drawn up, which should be even stricter.

It’s important to remember, however, that just because equipment is Energy Star compliant, it doesn’t have to be used in that way; make sure that your PC’s Bios and the Windows Power Management settings are configured correctly – a system with the Energy Star logo can still be set to stay on all the time.

The TCO label is a little more complex than Energy Star; it’s from the Swedish Confederation for Professional Employees, and TCO Development provides labelling standards for office products in general, furniture coverings, mobile phones and computers.

The environmental aspect of the scheme deals with power consumption and energy saving as well as recyclability and the use of hazardous substances during manufacture. In addition to environmental issues, the labelling also covers ergonomics and electromagnetic emissions; the intention is to provide an all-round symbol of quality.

There have been several versions of the TCO standards and their requirements are given on the website. However, they’re broadly similar to Energy Star, for example a TCO’03 monitor should use four watts or less in sleep mode, and three or less in off or standby mode.

There’s another standard for green computing, called IEEE 1680; unlike the others we’ve mentioned, it’s not something you’ll see on a sticker (yet), but the standard encompasses a range of required and optional criteria, covering areas such as hazardous substances, end-of-life arrangements, and energy consumption.

A new US website EPEAT, the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool, gives details of products that fulfil the requirements. Although it’s aimed more at professional and public sector purchasers, it’s still useful for individuals who wants to see how various models from major manufacturers such as Apple, HP and Dell stack up.

Standby to save
Standby and hibernate power consumption figures are important. They may seem small (a computer and monitor together may consume only around 5W in hibernate mode) but that still amounts to almost 44kWh each year. Research by Strathclyde University suggests that standby consumption could count for as much as 13 per cent of home power use. Ultimately, the more power consumed, the more emissions of greenhouse gases like CO2 are generated.

One reason for using these modes, of course, is that Windows simply takes forever to start up from cold. If that’s your experience, it’s worth checking our recent article on optimising Windows start-up.

With a well-tuned system, shutting down totally may be a more practical solution, and remember that faster start-up is also a promised benefit of Windows Vista. If you can speed up your system start-up and shut down, switching off at the wall socket, instead of on the front of the PC will save you a few extra watts.

Most power is used, of course, when your PC is up and running. Choosing a more modern system with the latest Intel Core-based chips, for example, will use less power than older models, particularly some of the later ‘Prescott’ Pentium 4 models.

If you don’t need the highest performance dual graphics cards, it’s overkill to opt for a PC that has them fitted. The computer will need a larger power supply to drive them and most PC power supplies aren’t as efficient when they’re not running almost flat out – which is an important factor to bear in mind if you’re building a system from scratch.

It may seem like a good idea to fit the largest PSU (power supply unit) you can, in case you upgrade the system later, but if it’s under-used, it’s not going to use power efficiently, so you may be better off fitting a smaller PSU that’s used nearer its full capacity.

You should also think about power issues when upgrading – and not just to make sure you don’t overload or underwork your PSU. If you’re adding a new hard drive, it may be tempting to keep the old one inside the PC for backing up. But will you be using it all the time? If not, what’s the point of having it spinning away inside the box, using power? Put it in an external USB caddy and only plug it in when you want to use it.

Conversely, if you have an external drive in a caddy, but find it’s used most of the time, consider fitting it inside the PC if you don’t really need it to be portable. You’re likely to get better performance, as well as perhaps doing away with a power supply and freeing up a USB port.

It’s also a good idea to check when you’re switching on peripherals, particularly printers and scanners; some don’t have power switches at all, and are automatically in a standby state, ready to wake up when you send a print job to them.

Like PCs, there are obviously small savings to be made by switching off properly, instead of relying on standby, especially if you have a printer that turns itself on when the PC is powered up, rather than when a job is sent to it. Some inkjets are prone to this and, as well as the power consumption, a small amount of ink may be used too, as the nozzles are cleaned on start-up. So if it’s convenient, don’t plug them in unless they’re needed.

Convenience, of course, is what can often scupper the best intentions when it comes to being environmentally friendly. Investing in a power monitor (see next page) will help you work out which peripherals consume most power, and you can decide how to weigh up the convenience of instant start-up against the power consumption.

It may even be worth investing a little in new extension cables and sockets; if you can position plugs where they’re easily accessed, it’s much simpler to remove power from equipment than if it involves scrabbling on the floor under your desk.

Before you press an old PC into service as a file or mail server, check its power consumption too, and consider whether or not you might be better off with a small Nas unit (see our Nas devices goup test or something similar – an old PC with its fans and unnecessary graphics cards may be overkill for sharing files and music around the home.

Making choices
With even the most powerful computers taking a fraction of the power that we use daily in our homes, it’s easy to question the point of making the effort to save a few paltry watts. It’s true that individually we may not be making that much difference, but even small savings add up across the population and, with computers playing such a key part in households, it is possible to make a big difference.

As we’ve seen, computer users who still have CRT monitors can potentially save most in terms of power consumption by switching to a new, flat-panel screen. In Computeractive’s recent survey, just over 25 per cent of respondents had the older displays, potentially almost doubling the power they use when their computer is turned on.

Put another way, if those figures are representative of home computer use across the country, and everyone with a CRT could be persuaded to change to an LCD monitor, the amount of electricity used by the millions of home computers and their screens would drop by almost 13 per cent.

Of course, such an immediate huge drop is unlikely, but that doesn’t mean we can’t all do a little bit without becoming obsessive about it. Whether it’s simply changing the settings on our printers to use draft mode, turning over each piece of paper and printing on the back, or remembering to dispose of waste paper, ink and toner sensibly, it’s all loose change in the global piggy bank.

You can set your computer to spin down the hard disk when it’s not being used, to put the screen to sleep, and choose to shut it down and switch it off, instead of using sleep mode overnight. Or, even better perhaps, have a PC-free weekend now and again.

When you’re buying or building a new system, look out for the logos from Energy Star and TCO, or check the EPEAT lists for the systems that are kindest to the environment. Ask suppliers what arrangements they have, or will have, for recycling the equipment when it reaches the end of its life, and help someone else by passing on your old PC, instead of just throwing it away.

Calculate the carbon emissions from your computer’s power use, and consider offsetting them through a tree planting scheme, or switching to greener power, which need only take a phone call.

None of these things are complicated. It won’t slow down your word processing or web browsing, although you may have to wait a little longer for your PC to start up instead of return from sleep mode. But whether you’re keen to save money on your electricity bill or protect the planet, isn’t waiting a minute or so a relatively small price to pay?