Cutting computer energy waste, particularly when desktops and laptops are doing little or no work, could save consumers billions of dollars on their energy bills and avoid millions of tons of carbon pollution annually, according to a new report released today by the Natural Resources Defense Council.
To prove the point, NRDC and its partners conducted a demonstration project that cut the “idle power” of a desktop computer in half, using readily available off-the-shelf components and tweaking system power management settings, with zero impact on performance or the price tag (while reducing electricity bills by more than $70 over the life of the computer).

Idle power matters because modern computers spend most of their time, and energy use, when on, but not actively used such as when users are away from their desks, or when they are performing light tasks like browsing the Internet or reading email—both of which require little processing power. Computers spend from 50 percent to 77 percent of their time in idle and low-intensity active modes and draw much more power than necessary in them.

Read the full story. (NRDC)