The tools on the other hand are similar regardless of the motivation of the single user. A computer power management software like Edison can aid the user in the process. Edison basically allows a user to set power saving profiles for work and off-work hours on a computer system.

Three parameters can be defined for both work time and non-work time that have been taken directly from the Power Options of the Windows Control Panel

The user can define the time in minutes to turn off the display, power down the connected hard drives and to suspend the computer. Edison will display an estimated annual saving which is divided into money, energy and CO2. The problem with those figures is that they calculate the savings by taking the average PC usage per year into account. Users who work more or less will see different results as will users who work with a high-end computer system or low end system.

The figures can therefor only be seen as a guideline. It is possible to change the price per kWh but not the average work time per day which is rather unfortunate.

A slider is available on top that can be used to configure the program. Experienced users can also enter the values manually.

Edison is an interesting application as it visualizes the abstract power saving concept. It might make more sense for most users to simply adjust the power saving settings in the Control Panel.

Users who are serious about saving energy might want to invest money in an energy monitor that is connected between power source and computer. They might also be interested in the articles: Saving Energy With All Off, Create Video Card Profiles To Save Power And Reduce Noise and 80 Plus Power Supply Units.

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Notebook users normally do not have a power button for the monitor and that’s probably the main application for the shortcut to turn off the monitor. It might also be useful for users with old huge CRT monitors that have the power switch on their back.

I have tried several programs that can be used to turn the monitor off on a system and only one was working perfectly on my Samsung 19″ LCD monitor. I tried NirCmd which worked fine during the first test but not in consecutive ones. The monitor turned off in the first test but all other tests had the result that the monitor turned automatically on again after pressing the shortcut.

It could be related to my system though. The application that did the trick for me is called Wizmo. It’s a small command line utility that provides a multitude of features, among them the option to turn off the monitor with a shortcut.

The command to turn off the monitor is wizmo.exe monoff. The easiest way to create the shortcut is to right-click wizmo.exe and to select Create Shortcut from the menu. Right-click the new shortcut afterwards and select Properties from that menu.

The Target parameter should contain the path to the executable on your system. Add -monoff after that path so that you get ..wizmo.exe -monoff

Now move the shortcut to your desktop or any other location that you want it to be. Double-click the shortcut to test it. The monitor should turn off. It takes a few seconds depending on the type of monitor that you have. My Samsung LCD monitor is seeking for connections on the other monitor ports for a while before the monitor is finally turned off.

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Local Cooling [via Shell Extension City (You guys rock)]is not applying magic however. All it does is offer the user easy access to energy saving options that can also be accessed in Windows independently. It does however offer the user power saving modes with which he can change the mode with the click of the mouse button. Low, Medium, High and Custom power saving modes are available to choose from.

These modes change the idle time before the monitor is switched off, before hard drives spin down and the PC is shutdown. A high power saving mode turns the monitor off after 5 minutes of idle time while a low one after 15 minutes.

The custom setting accepts any values and can increase or decrease the idle time before the power saving mode kicks in.

The question that I have been asking myself however was why someone would need Local Cooling at all. I mean, the settings are available right in the Windows Control Panel, right ?

I have two possible answers for you. The first is accessibility. You start Local Cooling and all you need to do is press one button and you are saving energy. That’s better than locating those power saving options somewhere in the Windows options, if you know that such settings exist.

The second answer is the community effect. If you known Seti or Folding at home you know that you can create groups and compare what your computer / group has achieved against others who participate. You can do the same with Local Cooling.

It is possible to create or join a group and check your stats online and how they compare to other users. You could create a group for your school, workplace or University and see how it compares against the other groups.

Oh, there is one last element that users will like. It details the Savings on your PC in saved trees, galllons and kWh. And it made the realize that I probably could use the AMD Cool & Quiet technology to run my cpu with less power to save energy. I write and surf the web most of the time anyway.

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