HOW MUCH MONEY can these changes save you? That depends on what you pay per watt for electricity, multiplied by the number of watts consumed when the system is inactive. If your PC is pow¬ered on continuously but runs actively only 10 hours a day, five days a week, and it uses a 3D screen saver during periods of inactivity, it will be in use 2600 hours each year, and will consume 250 watts on average. This drops to 225 watts during the 6160 hours of the year it is powered on but inactive. Of course, your mileage will vary, but the savings are significantly greater for power-hun¬gry high-end systems.

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Simply switching from S1 Suspend to S3 offers virtually the same savings as you would realize from manually turning the machine off when it's not in use. There are a few other things you can do to conserve power. Turn off your peripherals, such as printers and scanners, when they are not being used. Most devices do have low power modes, but if you only take a couple of prints in a week, it's better to turn off the power. CRT monitors are quite power hungry, so switching to an LCD monitor can save you some more money. The larger your monitor, the more you'll save by switching.

After implementing these tips, you can sleep in peace, safe in the knowledge that you are saving your hard earned money, and to top it off, saving the planet! too.