We all know that saving on energy is a big theme in the news at the moment. Things are likely to remain this way as well, as we all try to do our bit to help the environment and stave off wasting energy in whatever way we can.
If you have a TFT monitor you can do one thing that will help in its own small way – switch it off whenever you can. This might sound fairly anti-climactic but if we all did this whenever we left our computers unattended just imagine what the difference would be on a worldwide scale.
We know that if we leave our computers unattended for a while, the screensaver function will come on to ensure they remain in good condition and the image doesn’t eventually burn into the screen. Even though this is less likely to happen with today’s modern TFT monitors, we still use screensavers in most cases.
But switching off your monitor is the best way to make a small difference that can add up. It is really no different from changing any other little habit you might want to get rid of. To begin with you will probably forget to do it every time you get up and leave the room for a while. You may be visiting the kitchen for a few minutes or going to hang some washing up if you are at home. But in any case, simply hitting that power button on your monitor takes just a second to do – if you remember.
If you find it difficult to remember to do this, try sticking a Post-It note to the frame of your monitor to remind you. If you stick it to the bottom of the monitor surround you won’t find it gets in the way of using it. But it will still be there in your line of sight, so you will be much less likely to forget.
And after a while you can think about getting rid of it as you switch off your monitor more and more often.
The most telling advantage of doing this is to ensure that you switch it off when you turn your computer off at night. If you don’t, you will see the light on your TFT monitor glowing to tell you the power is still going to the screen. Switch it off and save on electric from today onwards.