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TABLE 3-2 Different Color Watts Used
Colors Use Different
Amounts of Power White 74 W
Fuchsia 69 W
Yellow 69 W
Aqua 68 W
Silver 67 W
Blue 65 W
Red 65 W
Lime 63 W
Gray 62 W
Olive 61 W
Purple 61 W
Teal 61 W
Green 60 W
Maroon 60 W
Navy 60 W
Black 59 W

White and bright colors can use up to 20 percent more power than black or dark colors.
Table 3-2 show how much power colors expend.
Is the difference between a white background (74 W) and a black background (59 W)
major? Well, 15 W equates to about $17 a year. Multiply that by the number of computers in
your organization and you’ll see a difference.
The Power Switch
The best energy saver is, of course, to turn off your monitor. Some users might not know it,
but there is a power switch, usually located on the front or the side of the monitor. Turn it
off when the computer’s not going to be in use for a while, and you get the ultimate
savings—zero watts of energy used.
True, you can use the Energy Star settings in Windows to turn the monitor off after a
while, but those settings take some time to kick in.
Let’s say you’re going to lunch. Over your 30-minute break, there will be no savings for
the first 5 minutes; 20 percent savings for the next 5 minutes; 90 percent savings for the next
10 minutes; and 95 percent savings for the last 10 minutes. Energy Star saves 65 percent of
the monitor’s power during the half hour. Powering off saves 100 percent.