|
Staff & Faculty:
If you are visiting this page to set your computer's power-save options (not to pledge),
you can jump directly to the instructions.
SLEEP IS GOOD.
What is the Sleep is Good Pledge Drive, and why is Smith participating?
The Sleep is Good pledge drive (formerly known as the Million Monitor 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 the Smith College Green Team
and supported by ITS. Our
goal is to get as many Smith students as possible between now and November
25, 2008, to
pledge to stop using
a screensaver and start putting
their computers to sleep.
But wait...The Smith
pledge drive is also
a competition. The three houses with the highest percentage of students pledging will each receive a pizza party!
Smith Faculty & Staff: This pledge drive is for students only, but we encourage you to follow the directions below to set your own computer
monitor to sleep mode.
Back
to top >
Is it true that screen savers actually waste energy?
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.
|
 |
If 75% of the Smith student population takes the Sleep Is Good pledge, the equivalent of 28,571 gallons of gas can be saved over a three-year period. At three dollars a gallon, that's a total savings of $86,000 and a decrease of 500,000 pounds of CO2 emissions.
For more information about calculating your carbon footprint and CO2 emissions, visit these websites:
http://www.epa.gov/OMS/climate/420f05004.htm
http://www.greenstudentu.com/carbon_footprint.aspx
http://www.carbonfootprint.com
http://www.earthlab.com/carbon-calculator.html
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!
Back to top >
I want to help. How do I adjust the power management settings on my computer?
The instructions below explain how to set your monitor and computer to automatically
go into sleep
mode after a period of inactivity you specify. To wake your system up, just move
the mouse or press a key on your keyboard.
Click on the link for your operating
system:
Windows Vista
Windows XP & 2000
Macintosh OS 10.x
Windows Vista:
- Click on Start, then Run, then Control Panel.
- Control Panel has two views:
-
In Theme View, double-click on System and Maintenance, then on Power Options.
-
In Classic View, double-click on Power Options.
- In Power Options, choose a pre-configured plan, customize one of the pre-configured plans, or create a new plan.
- The initial screen for editing a plan allows you to change the monitor and sleep timeout settings. We recommend setting your monitor to enter sleep mode after 5 to 15 minutes of inactivity. The shorter the timeframe, the more energy you save.
Windows XP & 2000:
- Go to the EZ
Wizard download page and click on the link to begin the download.
- When asked to Run or Save the file, choose Save and
save the file to your desktop.
- When the download is complete, double-click on the new PMWiz-XP.exe icon on
your desktop.
- In the Power Management Wizard window, read the descriptions of the Aggressive, Intermediate, and Modest power management strategies.
- Click on the one that suits you best, then Exit.
- Restart your computer to activate your new power management settings.
Macintosh OS 10.x
- 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.
- Set your hard drive to stop after 20 minutes, and your computer to enter "sleep mode" after one hour.
- Close the Energy
Saver window. That's all there is to it!
Back
to top >
What else
can I do to decrease my computer's impact on the environment?
- Turn your computer completely
off whenever you go to class, go to dinner, go to sleep, 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.
Back
to top >
Where can I get more
information about sustainability and clean energy?
Visit the following websites for more information about:
Back to top >
|
Did you remember to SIGN THE PLEDGE?
|
|
