LEAVING your computer on all the time when not in use could cost you about $80 extra a year in energy bills.While $80 might not seem a lot over a year, multiply that sum by the number of machines many businesses like to keep running all the time so those on a network can receive security patches and updates. Microsoft made the $80 estimate as part of its marketing of the new Windows Vista operating platform, promoting its new default power management features.

These are designed to power down computers when they are not in use.

“While education may be the key for many consumers, businesses are forced to balance cost and environmental impact against their own security and operations requirements,” Microsoft said.

To explain the dramatic difference power management can make, Microsoft has also published research that showed a typical desktop PC and LCD monitor sitting idle for a year (outside of business hours) would consume 632 kilowatt hours of energy — compared to 34 kilowatt hours in “Sleep” mode.

The savings adds up to a reduction of 598 kilowatt hours per desktop computer per year. It’s worth noting that all of the power management features in Windows Vista are available for central IT control, and can be set or turned off however the company chooses.

If a security patch or important update comes out and must be immediately deployed to thousands of machines, the IT department can use software, such as Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007, to reactivate machines so the patch can automatically be installed throughout the network. A study by PC Pro, a UK computer magazine, confirmed the Microsoft estimates.

The magazine (www.pcpro.co.uk) compared energy use between Windows XP and Windows Vista, and found that a business could slice up to $91 per desktop computer per year off its energy bill. The savings were calculated without assessing the energy use of the monitor.

The cost savings are due to the default “Sleep” power-management settings in Vista, which automatically activates after the computer has been idle for one hour, the magazine said.

By contrast, Windows XP’s default settings left the computer running idle, wasting significant amounts of energy if standby settings were not applied through other means.

“Vista’s Sleep mode is also far more reliable than XP’s equivalent “Standby” setting, and computers are quicker to resume too: a Vista PC or notebook will spring back to life within a couple of seconds, which isn’t dissimilar from the time it takes an LCD screen to start working again after being in standby,” the magazine said.

Of course, the cost savings is not a reason to go out and buy Vista. You must have compelling business reasons to make the shift. You can simple set your Windows XP settings to go into sleep mode when you want. Just manage your power better and you could achieve the same savings on your business’ energy bill.

For example a study by the US Environmental Protection Agency in 2001 found that General Electric was able to save $2.5 million per year in energy by activating the power-management functionality of Windows XP and Windows 2000 across 75,000 desktop computers.

The savings were achieved by setting monitors to shut down after 15 minutes, and the computer itself after 30 minutes, and moving to full “hibernate” mode after three hours. Specifically the EPA’s Energy Star programme estimates businesses could save $10 to $30 per monitor and $15 to $45 per desktop computer.

To evaluate power management settings and the estimated savings go to the EPA site (www.energystar.gov) and type “power management” in the search engine provided.

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Mac users can expect Microsoft to release its Office 2008 for the Apple platform later this year. In addition to the new features in Office 2008, the software suite will also be able to run natively on both PowerPC- and Intel-based Macs.

Send your comments to Ahmed at elamin.ahmed@gmail.com.