5 Things You Can Do in 5 Minutes to Reduce Your Power Use – Part 4: Enhance Your Impact

This is the final post in a four-part series. Part 1 of this series listed the five actions we recommend that you take to reduce the power use of your computer. Part 2 and Part 3 explained in more detail how you could easily complete four cost-saving actions. This post explains the fifth and final action in this campaign — how you can multiply the positive impact you have had on the environment by getting others involved.

Softchoice found that 93% of PCs are still running Windows XP, which did not default to having power management turned on.

In Can Windows 7 make PCs Green? Todd Bishop writes, "With hundreds of millions of PCs draining batteries and tapping into power outlets around the world, even a small tweak in Microsoft Windows can influence global energy consumption."

With numbers like these, it is imperative that we convince as many people as possible to reduce their IT power use.

5. Please Spread the Word! Tell Five of Your Friends or Colleagues How to Set Power Management on Their Computers

Light green: easy individual actions

Tell your friends at work and on Facebook. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Grab our RSS feed and put it on your website or social networks. Encourage others to sign up for Climate Savers Computing. Talk to your IT support personnel and educate them about how and why they can make these changes with other users.

Dark green: More robust solution for IT departments

Teach your users and tell your professional networks how and why they should consider these actions for themselves. Consider jumping on our forums to help answer questions for less experienced users and IT staff so they can learn how to perform some of the more robust actions that will help reduce information and communications technology power usage. 

Remember, here are the five steps YOU can take to reduce your energy consumption AND lower your overall energy costs for your organization:

No cost and saves you money instantly
1.    Set power management on your computer.
2.    Turn off your computer at night.

Some cost, but should save you money within the year
3.    Order and use a Smart Strip Smart Energy Saving Power Strip ($30 at Amazon)
4.    Commit to buying EPEAT gold or silver hardware.

Enhance your impact
5.    Spread the word! Tell 5 of your friends and colleagues how to set power management on their computers. For example, post this to Twitter: "Five things you can do in five minutes to reduce your power use via @techsoup. Enter our contest! http://bit.ly/2mBLpI"

Each of the above actions can be completed in less than five minutes, but make sure to speak with your IT department (if you have one) before taking action. We don't want you trading energy reduction for a loss of security or productivity.

Our goal in this campaign is to raise awareness of greener technology choices and to get you to take an action to reduce your impact. However, we don't want to encourage what one of our community members dubbed, "feel good green correctness" in place of incremental and impactful changes. Don't do it just because we recommend it since these are not one-size fits all recommendations. Instead, think about what we are asking you to do and see how it fits within your organization's technology plan and processes. If your IT department is updating your software at night and you turn off your computer, then you may have saved a few watts, but decreased your organization's productivity. Instead, work with them to find the best way for you to save energy without jeopardizing their work.

Check out our mini-tips page for suggestions on how to handle this and similar situations. Also take a look at our "shocking" (electrifying?) stats to understand why you might want to make some of these changes.