In recent years web browsing has become a rather CPU intensive task. The javascript used for scrolling menus, Flash based ads and other (usually) unnecessary junk running behind the scenes on certain websites, can put your CPU to the test. Of course, whenever your CPU spikes it has to pull more energy which produces more heat which, for laptop users, can drain the battery much quicker than if this stuff was not running.

You can help prevent this by taking advantage of a script blocker, such as Firefox’s NoScript add-on.

SecTheory.com took a notebook PC, a couple of browsers and measured the battery drain on the Top 100 Alexa sites. They then took the worst offenders, that is, the ones that took the most power drain, and blocked script and ads using NoScript and AdBlock Plus. The results were quite significant. On a Dell Inspiron B130 notebook, with a 1.5GHz Celeron M processor and 1 Gig of ram, running fully patched Windows XP SP2, the power consumption when browsing the worst offending sites dropped by 11W, a 20% reduction.

These are pretty impressive results. Granted, it does take a bit of time for your white list to get caught up to where you don’t even notice a script blocker is running, but investing a little time can really impact battery life if you do a lot of browsing… especially on ‘intensive’ sites.

I have posted several tips pointing to programs which can help power management on Windows machines, but today’s utility is specifically for Mac users. The program is called Power Manager 3 for Mac OS X.

Reduce the energy costs of Mac computers with Power Manager 3. Use Power Manager to control when your Macs are available and when they are switched off.

The program allows you to set schedules which automate the process of putting your computer to sleep and waking it up. The program seems to be geared toward corporate/school environments as the website focuses almost entirely on the vast savings you can experience due to the decreased energy usage, however this is perfectly good for home users.

Power Manager 3 gives you a 30 day free trial, but usage after that requires the program to be purchased.

You may have heard the statement that having a black background uses less power than a non-black background. Google even switched to a black ground a while ago to attempt to save energy. Logically, this seems true because your screen doesn’t light up as much, however this is not the case.

For proof, check out this video (ignore the advertisement)… the demonstration speaks for itself. So if you are using a black background solely for the purpose of saving energy, it might be time to look for another color.

Note: this holds true for LCD monitors, if you are using a CRT black is probably still the way to go.

Vampire power usage can be a real drain on your power consumption and, in turn, your check book. Wikipedia defines vampire power as:

[T]he electric power consumed by electronic appliances while they are switched off or in a standby mode.

Basically it is a device which uses power “waiting” for you (i.e. in standby mode). 99% of the time this is wasted power as your devices are not doing anything useful.

To help cut down on your vampire power consumption, check out these tips. This article gives you a good idea of how much power your devices are actually pulling while in standby mode. Add it up and over time this can become a significant amount.

Personally, I always unplug “once in a while” devices such as cell phone chargers, my coffee maker, etc. I recently got an awesome power strip which allows me to easy cut power to my computer devices when I am done with them without having to go unplug them.

If anyone has any additional tips, please share as I am always looking for more ways to cut my power usage.