October 2007
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Facebook“After Dark” was among the first computer screensaver software
programs. Released in 1989, it offered a choice of whimsical
designs (moving imagery) that you could program to appear on screen when you weren’t using your computer.
One of the designs was called “Toasters.” A battalion of thumbnail-sized toasters, each with celestial wings, would fly in formation across your screen – endlessly.
Back then, toasters seemed cool, and screensavers were useful.
Most computers had cathode-ray tubes, or CRTs. Static images continuously displayed on CRT monitors left permanent ghostly shadows, or “phosphor burn-in.” But a screensaver allowed you to walk away from your computer without, for example, the Microsoft Windows taskbar being emblazoned on the monitor.
So those angelic flying toasters really were computer guardians. They “saved” your screen.
Today, flying toasters aren’t cool. They’re ancient history. Even the book about the “After Dark” phenomenon – Art of Darkness, by Erfert Fenton, published by Peachpit Press in 1992 – seems quaint. And screensavers are obsolete. Worse than that, they’re appalling energy wasters.
Modern CRT monitors are much less susceptible to burn-in due to lower-contrast imagery and improved phosphor coatings. And most computers, including all laptops, now have liquid-crystal-display (LCD) monitors, which are are immune to burn-in.
So all the screensaver imagery – geometric shapes, lightning storms, tropical fish, dinosaurs, celebrities, cartoons, you name it – now in motion on millions of computer screens worldwide serves no purpose.
Yet your computer draws the same amount of electricity whether you’re actually using it, or you’ve gone to lunch and it’s sitting there, unattended in an empty office, displaying your romantic fireplace 3D screensaver.
Depending on the type and size of your computer, the amount of wasted electricity will range from a few watts to several hundred. On average, it takes about 100 watts per hour to run a screensaver – the same as it does to illuminate a 100W lightbulb.
By some estimates, there are more than 600 million computers in the world, many of which are rarely turned off. If all of them were running screensavers, they would be drawing 60,000 megawatts per hour – for no valid reason.
Just how much is 60,000 megawatts per hour?
A commercial wind turbine can generate 10 megawatts. A coal-fired power plant might generate 300 megawatts. The world’s largest hydroelectric river project – the Three Gorges Dam, spanning the Yangtze River in China – will generate 30,000 megawatts, or a mere 50% of the power required to run screensavers on everybody’s computers.
All the computers in the world will never be simultaneously running screensavers. But how many are? Half? Even if it’s only a third, the amount of wasted energy and subsequent pollution is disheartening to contemplate.
Bear in mind, Alberta’s primary source of electricity is coal. Burning coal produces waste: ash, sludge, toxic chemicals, and heat. It causes smog, soot, acid rain, and toxic air emissions. It contributes enormously to global warming.
In return for that hefty price, is there any benefit to screensavers?
None. You can’t even rationalize them as “decoration” or “entertainment,” since, by definition, there’s nobody there to watch them.
You work in a large office, and your screensaver is visible to colleagues? At best it’s ignored. At worst it’s a distraction. Either way, it’s an absurd extravagance.
Screensavers actually harm your computer, because they keep the monitor’s fluorescent backlight illuminated, which ages it faster than if it were simply turned off.
Any fluorescent tube dims with age. If left on continually, a typical LCD monitor will lose about 50% of its brightness during its lifetime. Typically, the tube is an integral part of the LCD monitor, which means it cannot be removed and replaced.
Computers thrown out with the trash are themselves pollution. True, they can be recycled, but many computer components are toxic, and the “recycling” of computers remains a dubious process.
The solution, of course, is smack-yourself-on-the-forehead obvious: turn your computer off.
The idea that it takes more energy to start a computer than it does to keep it running is as fictional as the Easter Bunny. You will always conserve energy by switching your computer off when you’re not using it.
And it’s a Santa Claus-size myth that turning your computer off stresses it or wears it out. You should always turn your computer off when you’ve finished working each day. You can even turn it off and on several times a day without harming it. Computers are not that fragile.
The other solution is built-into most modern computers: a “sleep” or “standby” mode. This power-saving option is probably part of your computer’s operating system. Use it to ensure the monitor goes blank when you haven’t touched the keyboard for a specified length of time, say five minutes. Touching any key will instantly “awaken” the computer so you can resume working.
A recent issue of the Pitt Chronicle, newspaper of the University of Pittsburgh, urged students and faculty to save energy by using their computers’ sleep-mode option. The statistics it presented are compelling:
- There are approximately 26,000 computers on the university’s main campus. The electricity to operate them costs more than $1 million per year. Many of the computers run 24 hours a day yet are used only a fraction of that time.
- If all those computers were programmed to sleep when not in use, the university would save $500,000 annually and conserve enough electricity to power 6,005 homes for an entire month.
Trashing and deleting your screensaver software, and instead either turning your computer off or letting it sleep when not in use, is a small individual step toward sustainability. But clearly, taking that step en masse can have significant results.
Let’s do it.
TAKE ACTION:
- Check the power settings on your computer. Program it to go into sleep/standby mode after five minutes of inactivity.
- Turn your computer off after you’ve finished working each day.
- Urge your friends and colleagues to do the same. Remind them that the CO2 emissions from just 15 computers are comparable to those of the average car driven in North America.
- Visit www.greenmachineshop.com before purchasing your next computer. They claim theirs are more energy efficient, run cooler and quieter, and contain 97% less toxins and carcinogens.
- Consider buying a laptop. It will be more energy efficient than a desktop computer.
- If you must purchase a desktop computer, make sure it has an LCD monitor. It will be more energy efficient than a CRT monitor.
- If you run Windows XP, visit www.localcooling.com to download a free application that will immediately reduce your computer’s electricity consumption. It will also display your energy savings in real-time, translated into environmental terms such as how many trees or gallons of oil you’re saving.
October 5th, 2007 at 8:26 am
Great article and useful tips. I often leave my laptop running over lunch. I’ve now got local cooling loaded on my computer. It took all of 2 minutes. Not only is this now ‘top of mind’ for me. Local Cooling has conveniently placed it top of screen’ too. Thanks!
November 22nd, 2007 at 10:51 am
Fascinating! I use my sleep mode at night, but I’ll start doing so during the day – just going to look for the timed setting right now. I’ll also be passing along your action tips to the rest of my colleagues. Thanks!