Saving Energy

Saving Energy

Saving energy can help protect the environment and reduce costs. Everyone can help to save energy at NUI Galway by reducing the amount of power your office computer consumes. The energy consumption measured in wattsfor a typical 2006 model Dell computer.  There are in excess of 4,500 PCs at the University of Galway and it is possible to make significant energy savings by managing the power consumption on these systems. 

Recommendations

1. Switch off your computer and monitor 
   When you are finished work, manually shutdown your computer and monitor and turn off power at the main switch for maximum energy savings. 
   
   
2. Re-configure Windows Power Options 
   The Windows Power Options Properties can be used to automatically manage and configure the energy saving settings for your computer using the settings shown in the table below. 
   
   

   Settings	Desktop Computer	Laptop (Max Battery)
   Turn off monitor:	10 minutes	10 minutes
   Turn off hard disks:	15 minutes	15 minutes
   System standby:	30 minutes	20 minutes
   System hibernates:	1 hour	30 minutes

   
   When your computer is in standby or hibernating in low power sleep mode energy consumption is very low as shown in the Energy Consumption & Environmental Data table
   
   
3. Consider energy efficiency when buying a new computer 
   
   - Check the computer datasheet to see what standards the computer you want to buy conforms to and select an energy efficient model 
   - The European Commission offers detailed information about the ENERGY STAR eco-label as well as the power consumption of modern office computers 
   - The Energy Star database contains information on the power consumption of computers as well as an energy calculator
   
   
4. Switch off printers 
   It is recommended that all non-essential printers in staff offices and departments at The University of Galway are switched off if they are to be inactive for an extended period.
   
   
5. Printer Power Save/Sleep Mode 
   Significant energy savings can be made by setting a printer to Sleep Mode after a period of inactivity without affecting performance.
   
   Sleep Mode does not affect printer warm-up time unless the printer was in Sleep Mode for more than 8 hours.
   
   For the most common printer models used in the PC Suites, Sleep Mode is turned on with a Sleep Delay of 30 minutes. The Sleep Delay options are 1 min, 15 mins, 30 mins (default), 60 mins, 90 mins, 2 hours or 4 hours.   
   
   
6. How to set Printer Power Save/Sleep Mode 
   
   -  Instructions for the HP4250 printer model
   
   - For other printer models, please review Power Save/Sleep mode settings in your printer documentation