Green Computing

Green_Computing_Icon UNH is a nationally-recognized leader in sustainability and energy conservation. In May 2008, UNH President Mark Huddleston issued a memorandum to the University community, asking for students, faculty, and staff to assist in helping to reduce our collective energy costs by 5% per year. UNH IT is committed to President Huddleston’s goal.

The following information will help UNH reduce costs and save energy by altering computer usage.

Power Management

You can help save energy by enabling your computer’s Power Management feature. This simple step will help you save both the battery life on your computer, and energy costs for the University. If all students living in residence halls activated power management the annual savings would be the same as taking 294 cars off the road.

To enable the Power Management feature on your computer:

Windows 7

Select Start.
Go to the Control Panel.
Click on Power Options.
Choose Power Saver.
Close the Power Saver window.

Windows Vista

Select Start.
Go to the Control Panel.
Control Panel has two view options:

For Theme View, click on ‘System and Maintenance,’ and then choose Power Options
For Classic View, click on Power Options
Choose either the Balance or Power Saver setting.

Windows XP

Select Start, then Settings, Control Panel and Display.
Select the Screen Saver tab.
Select Power under the ‘Monitor Power/Energy Star’ section.
Choose Turn Off Monitor after 20 minutes.
Choose Apply.

Macintosh OS X

Select System Preference from the dock.
Select Energy Saver.
Under the Sleep tab, enable your computer, display or hard drive to go into Sleep mode after a period of inactivity.

Additional Info

Sleep Is Good

By adjusting the Power Management feature in the Windows Control Panel and ‘Energy Saver’ Preference pane on a Mac you can:

Set your screen to go to sleep after 5 minutes.
Set your computer to go to sleep after 15 minutes.
Disable Screen Savers – these save no power, and are no longer necessary to prevent screen damage.

Off Is Better

Though sleeping electronics consume far less power, turning them off is drastically more efficient.

Turn off your computer monitor when you leave.
Schedule your computer to turn on and off based on your use schedule.

Unplugged is Best

The very best way to save power is to use a power strip to cut power to electronics that are off at night or on weekends, as they still drain power in this state. This also helps protect your electronics from power surges.

More Energy Saving Tips

Don’t use screen savers. Screen savers and slideshows use a huge amount of energy. Consider powering down your monitor instead (when not in use).
Power down computer peripherals when not in use. These include computer speakers, external hard drives, scanners, and printers.
Don’t print unless necessary. Reading text on screen can be less pleasing to the eye, but consider this as an alternative to printing documents out for review unless necessary.
Turn your computer off when not in use. According to the Department of Energy, a computer left continuously running will emit 2161 pounds of CO2 a year and will cost $45 to power at $.0372/kWh.

When Purchasing a Computer:

Buy a laptop. Notebook computers use 80% less energy than desktops.
Buy an LCD Flat-screen. LCD flat screen computer monitors use 30% less energy than standard CRT monitors and take up a lot less room.
Buy an EnergyStar® recommended computer. An Energystar® compliant computer uses 70% less electricity than units without power management features. The UNH Computer Store sells a number of Energystar® compliant models.

Additional Resources

Some of the information listed in this section was adapted from the following websites. Please visit these websites for more energy-saving tips and ideas.