Click
here for the final house-by-house results. Congratulations,
all!
Frequently-Asked
Questions about
the Million Monitor Pledge Drive
What is the Million
Monitor Pledge Drive and why is Smith participating?
Is
it true that screensavers actually waste energy?
Sounds really good, but what's the catch?
I'm convinced! How do I put my monitor
to sleep?
What else can I do to decrease my computer's impact on the environment?
Where can I get more information about sustainability and clean energy?
What is the Million Monitor Pledge Drive and why is Smith participating?
The pledge drive is our response to the EPA's Million Monitor challenge to colleges and universities across the country. The EPA is urging everyone to voluntarily reduce their energy consumption by setting their computer monitors to a power-saving "sleep mode".
The Smith pledge drive
is sponsored by Clean Energy for Smith (CES) and supported by ITS. Our
goal is to get as many Smith students as possible between now and December 13th to
pledge to stop using
a screensaver and start putting their computers to
sleep.
But wait! The Smith pledge drive is also a regional competition, with really good prizes awarded to:
But wait! The Smith pledge drive is also a regional competition, with really good prizes awarded to:
-
Whichever college (Smith, Amherst, or Mt. Holyoke) has the highest percentage of students signing the pledge by December 13th.
-
The Smith residence house with the highest percentage of students pledging.
-
CES as the sponsoring organization, if at least 75% of all Smith students sign the pledge.
Smith students won the
tri-college pledge drive competition held last fall between Smith,
Mt. Holyoke, and Amherst, with 1852 total pledges. Let's do it again this
year!
Smith Faculty & Staff: We encourage you to follow the
directions below to set your own computer monitor to sleep mode. We will be
launching a special campaign for faculty and staff later in the year.
YES! A CRT (cathode ray tube, TV-style) monitor
uses 73
watts when
active (even with a blank screen saver) and a typical LCD (liquid crystal
display) screen uses 40
watts when active. Both
types use only 0-3 watts when asleep.
Setting your monitor to go into sleep mode when you're not using it could save from 100
to 600 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year depending
on your computer usage habits. This equals a monetary
saving of
$8.50 to $51.00 per year per computer (at 8.5 cents per kWh).
But money isn't all you're saving. Even more important, the more computers
set to sleep mode, the greater the reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from the power
plants that generate our electricity. And
it doesn't take much to make a real impact:
|
Just 19 computers set to sleep mode
is equivalent to planting one acre of trees. |
|
| Just 30 computers set to sleep mode is equivalent
to taking one car (and all its emissions) off the road. |
 |
Sounds really good, but what's the catch?
There
isn't any. Putting your monitor to sleep will not close applications
you have running, not interfere with your network settings, and not log
you out of your computer. It will simply turn off your monitor when it's not in use. It's
a great way to help the environment without reducing your computer's performance.
To wake your monitor up, all you have to do is
move your mouse or hit any key on your keyboard. No pain, lots
of gain!
The instructions below explain how to set your monitor to automatically
go into sleep
mode after a period of inactivity. Whenever your monitor is in sleep mode, simply touching
the mouse or keyboard "wakes
it up" in seconds.
Click on the appropriate link for your operating
system:
Windows 98/M/2000/XP: We recommend using the EZ Wizard program
to quickly enable sleep mode on all versions of Windows (except NT):
-
Click here to download the EZ Wizard program*:
- When prompted to run or save the file, choose Save and save the file to your desktop.
- If you see a security warning, click to continue.
- When the download is complete, close the download window.
Double-click on the new EZ Wizard icon on your desktop.
The program will ask how long you want your system to sit idle before it goes to sleep. For maximum benefit, we recommend choosing 10 minutes.
The program will ask if you want to be able to see your screen saver before the monitor goes to sleep. The choice is yours.
-
When you click OK, the program will turn on the Energy Star features that work with your monitor. That's all there is to it!
* If you have any trouble downloading or running the Wizard:
- Right-click anywhere on your desktop and select Properties from the pop-up menu.
- Click on the Screen Saver tab, then on the Power button to access Energy Star features.
- From the Turn off monitor drop-down list, select "after 10 mins" (recommended) or "after 15 mins".
- Click OK.
- Go
to the Apple menu and select Control Panels, then Energy
Saver.
Click on the Sleep Setup tab.
Put a check in the box next to "Separate timing for display sleep", then move the slider to 10 minutes.
Note: If you wish, you may also wish to put your system unit to sleep after it has been inactive for a period of time, such as 30 minutes. Put a check in the box next to that option, then move the slider accordingly.
- Close the Energy
Saver window. That's all there is to it!
- Go
to the dock and click on System Preferences.
In the System Preferences window, click on the Energy Saver icon, then on the Sleep tab.
Put a check in the box next to "Separate timing for display sleep", then move the slider to 10 minutes.
Note: You may also wish to put your system unit to sleep after it has been inactive for a period of time, such as 30 minutes. Put a check in the box next to that option, then move the slider accordingly.
- Close the Energy
Saver window. That's all there is to it!
What else
can I do to decrease my computer's impact on the environment?
- Turn your computer completely
off when you go to lunch, go to a long meeting, leave your office for
the day, or do anything else for an hour or more that doesn't involve your computer. An average
PC will waste 130 watts (the energy required to
ride a bike at 17 mph) if it's not turned off overnight.
If you are buying a new computer, consider a laptop. A typical laptop uses only one-quarter the energy of a desktop system.
- If you are buying a new
monitor,
consider an LCD, also called a flat screen or flat panel display.
LCDs use only one-third the energy of a CRT. They
also generate less heat that CRTs, meaning lower air-conditioning bills in the summer.
Where can I get more
information about sustainability and clean energy?
Visit the following websites for more information about:
- The Smith Green Team website:
http://www.smith.edu/physplant/greenteam/
- EPA's Sleep is Good campaign: http://www.energystar.gov/powermanagement/
Last updated May 25, 2007