GNOME Documentation Project
gnome-doc-list@gnome.org
Phil Bull
philbull@gmail.com
Ekaterina Gerasimova
kittykat3756@gmail.com
Michael Hill
mdhillca@gmail.com
Tips to reduce the power consumption of your computer.
Daniel Șerbănescu
daniel [at] serbanescu [dot] dk 2016, 2019

# Use less power and improve battery life

Computers can use a lot of power. By using some simple energy-saving strategies, you can reduce your energy bill and help the environment.

# General tips

Suspend your computer when you are not using it. This significantly reduces the amount of power it uses, and it can be woken up very quickly.

Turn off the computer when you will not be using it for longer periods. Some people worry that turning off a computer regularly may cause it to wear out faster, but this is not the case.

Use the Power panel in Settings to change your power settings. There are a number of options that will help to save power: you can automatically blank the screen after a certain time, reduce the screen brightness, and have the computer automatically suspend if you have not used it for a certain period of time.

Turn off any external devices (like printers and scanners) when you are not using them.

# Laptops, netbooks, and other devices with batteries

Reduce the screen brightness. Powering the screen accounts for a significant fraction of a laptop power consumption.

Most laptops have buttons on the keyboard (or a keyboard shortcut) that you can use to reduce the brightness.

If you do not need an Internet connection for a little while, turn off the wireless or Bluetooth cards. These devices work by broadcasting radio waves, which takes quite a bit of power.

Some computers have a physical switch that can be used to turn it off, whereas others have a keyboard shortcut that you can use instead. You can turn it on again when you need it.

# More advanced tips

Reduce the number of tasks that are running in the background. Computers use more power when they have more work to do.

Most of your running applications do very little when you are not actively using them. However, applications that frequently grab data from the internet or play music or movies can impact your power consumption.