[niki99]

I've a desk job and stare at my computer screen all day. And I was wondering if there are ways to go-green with your computer. Here is my list. Please add to it.

1. Lower the brightness of your monitor (there is a reason your laptop automically lowers screen brightness when it goes to batter mode)

2. Use online services like forwardon.com to conserve bandwidth when you are wasting your time forwarding emails

3. Set your homepage to some website that provides green tip of the day (e.g. treehugger). Once in a while you will find something that works for you.

Anything else?

[mollyL]

Excellent advise all round. As someone who is prone to headaches, the hint about turning down the screen brightness could really help. Thanks.

[stav]

you can turn on your pc's power management features. most computers these days have the ability to switch into low-power modes automatically when they're idle, but very few computers have this capability enabled. To do it on a pc running XP...

go to control panel --> power options

[justontime]

Thanks for the good advice, I hadn't thought very much about being greener when using the computer until I found this thread.

[Lyndsey]

I also always unplug my computer at night, both for health and money reasons. I know some say it takes more power to boot up each time, but my computer is in my bedroom, and I've heard that if it's still plugged in, it's still affecting you, even if the screen is turned off.

[stav]

Well for the health reasons then yes it's a good idea to unplug. I have mine in my study and rarely turn it off at all.. (it needs to be shut down every now and then just to reset stuff) it goes into sleep mode when idle of 15 mins, including powering down the hard drives and turning off the monitor etc so uses less power than if i turned it on and off all the time. It helps of course that when i built my system i used eco friendly, low power using parts wherever i could.

[atula]

I think the ideas are great....while working if you are also surfing for some green tips and using them too...then in a way...you are utilising the time to become more environmental conscious....

[gissele]

Those are really good advice to save energy.

[justontime]

I have acted on most of the tips in this thread, except the one about lowering the screen brightness, I tried but it hurt my eyes so I turned it up again.

[Niels@SM8]

Thanks for the good advice! I lowered down the brightness of my screen right away.