Computers and the environment

Computers and all electronic devices have an impact upon the environment.

This can be when they are used or when they are manufactured.

Some devices have a standby feature that uses considerable energy. For example, a Samsung Smart TV with the one connect box use 38 Watts when in stand by mode where as a smart bulb uses less than 1 Watt.

Switching off at the wall may seem obvious, but many of do not do it. 

It's an effective way of saving energy.

Switching off a screen (monitor) when not in use is one way of saving power, but also reducing the brightness of the screen can also reduce the power consumption.

Reducing the backlight of the display is also a method of saving power.

Using a device like a laptop instead of a desktop for a task that both are capable of saves power too since laptops have much lower power consumption

Computers have a feature to automatically switch off when they are not in use. 

When a computer is not in use it is said to be idle. When a computer is idle it is still using a considerable amount of energy.

Instead of a computer sitting idle, the computer could go in to a lower power state such as stand by.

Additionally, devices connected to the computer could go into a lower power state and the computer can control this.