Vista is Green - Eco friendly

With Vista running in your business (and at home) you can help save energy and also money!  With Vista installed you will:

  • Reduce the carbon dioxide generated by an organisation, equal to 45 tonnes per year for a business with 200 desktop PCs.  
  • Deliver savings on energy bills of up to £46 per desktop PC per year.

How is this possible?  

The cost savings and carbon footprint offsetting arise from the power management features of Windows Vista which helps to address these areas through the default ‘Sleep’ mode which automatically activates after one hour of non-use.   These settings can be managed centrally (of course) using Group Policy.  The Sleep mode is more reliable than Windows XP’s Standby mode, both in terms of entering the mode and safely resuming.

Consumer Questions

1. Do I have to change the settings on my PC to use the Windows Vista power saving features?

No, your PC is preset to save energy. Your monitor will power down (also called screen blanking) after 15 minutes of non-use and the PC will enter “sleep” mode after 60 minutes. To “wake” your PC, you just move your mouse or press a key on your key board. Waking should take less than two seconds and return the PC back to your last screen.

2. May I change the default settings to shorten or lengthen the time period before my computer automatically “sleeps?”

Yes, you can change the default settings by using the Power Options in Control Panel. From there you can adjust when your computer sleeps, when the display blanks, and configure the actions for the system’s power buttons.

If you want your PC to sleep right away on a one-time basis, just go to the “Start” menu and click on the yellow round button or simply tap the half moon button on your keyboard (if you have this feature).

3. Should I turn my computer off overnight to save energy?

If you are using the sleep feature, you do not need to turn off the PC each night. The majority of computers will use less than four watts of energy in overnight sleep mode and a little less than 2 watts if it is shutdown all the way. However, if you are taking an extended vacation, you may want to turn your computer off and also unplug the AC power adaptor. Even in off mode, most power adaptors will continue to draw around a half a watt of power.

4. Will “sleep” disconnect my computer from the internet?

Sleep will not disconnect you from the Internet if you have a broadband connection (e.g. cable or DSL). Broadband internet connections are always connected; thus when you resume from sleep mode, your internet connection will reconnect automatically. However, if you have a dial-up connection your connection will be disconnected.

If you are actively downloading something, your machine will continue to stay awake until the download completes. However, your screen may blank. This will not impact your download.

5. Do screen savers save energy?

No, screen savers will actually increase the energy used by your PC compared to idle or screen blanking modes. If you want to personalize your PC, a good alternative is to use photographs or other images as wallpaper, not as a screen saver.

With early generation personal computers and displays, screensavers were introduced to avoid permanent imprinting of images on displays during long periods of non usage.  Over time screensavers have taken on more of a personalization role and the need for them has become obsolete due to improvements in display technology.  Screensavers run when a PC is not in use thus they are also energy inefficient as opposed to putting the PC to Sleep or simply using display blanking.  Keep in mind the PC is not in use thus there is no one there to see the screensaver.

6. Do I have to turn my laptop off to save energy?

No, you just have to close the lid, and your laptop will enter sleep mode immediately. If for some reason, you forget to do this, your laptop will enter sleep mode within 20 minutes on battery and 60 minutes on AC power. Unplugging your laptop AC adapter will prevent your battery from charging. Even when the system is off, the battery will charge so that you have a fully charged system the next time you use your laptop. Modern laptops will automatically stop charging once your battery is fully charged.

Read the feature story - March 21, 2007

Update:

UK Press Release is here: https://www.microsoft.com/uk/press/content/presscentre/releases/2007/03/PR03811.mspx

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