Save Your Computer’s Energy with the CO2 Saver
CO2 Saver a free power saving utility
Depending on how many computers you use, how much you use them, and what ways you use them; your annual computer power usage could be causing thousands of pounds of CO2 to be pumped into the atmosphere. A great article in today’s New York Times, Putting Energy Hogs in the Home on a Strict Low-Power Diet, By LARRY MAGID discusses ways to reduce energy usage in the home and talks about computer power use in depth.
Eventually, many computers should become far more energy efficient but right now many of us can dramatically reduce our energy consumption with just a few simple measures.
The easiest way to save power is to simply turn off your computer when you aren’t using it. But if you need your computer to quickly be available – and you don’t want to wait for slow boot up times then configure your machine to go into a low-power sleep or suspend mode. You will need to tell Windows XP in the power options in the Control Panel to set the amount of time before Windows will turn off the monitor and hard disks or put the system into standby or hibernate mode. If you are using a Mac then just go into the system preferences and choose power options – the rest should be self-explanatory.
If you’d rather a sexier way of configuring your computer’s power usage then check out the new CO2 Saver for Windows XP and Windows Vista. It is a small program that will adjust your power savings for you, it stays on your desktop and tells you how much power and CO2 you have saved by using this program. It seems to be a free program put out by the search engine Snap.com,in part, as a way to promote it’s presence as a search engine.
If you want to read more on this topic, a previous post here, Turn it off! (when you’re done) also discusses this topic in more detail.
June 15th, 2007 20:46
This util was pretty intrusive IMHO and I use one called LocalCooling instead.
http://www.localcooling.com/
June 15th, 2007 21:31
Thanks for the url to localcooling.com It does look pretty good. I can’ really compare the two as I use a mac for almost all my work. My PC I just turn off when I don’t need it.
thanks for posting.
June 18th, 2007 11:07
The ‘Snap C02 Saver’ is a joke. Stupidest thing ever — in fact it’s a super way to invade privacy and collect data to sell to marketers. Here’s a snippet from the license agreement you clicked ‘I Agree’ to without reading:
So, not only do you get useless software that simply changes settings easily done by you (found at: Start > Control Panel > Power Options), but you get a fine piece of spyware too! I can’t wait to install this on all my computers … it’ll work well with my comet cursors and bonzi buddy!
Keep in mind that your true power saving features are found in the BIOS under acpi settings.
June 18th, 2007 21:08
Thanks Drew,
Wow, I am humbled. I clearly didn’t know diddily about the Snap CO2 Saver – seemed a benign way to help people who aren’t computer savvy make their computing somewhat greener but it sounds like it is more “greenwashing” hype or even worse from what you are saying.
July 24th, 2007 07:57
[...] via – Great Green Gadgets Posted by leedpro Filed in Uncategorized [...]
June 29th, 2008 12:01
There is a way for everyone to reduce their home and business energy consumption by up to 25%. I am currently getting a 12% reduction in my energy consumption and you can find out how by going to: http://4u2bn.com/fe27. Use the contact me button on the website if you have an interest.