Computers use a lot of electricity and the power settings are rarely set up in such a way as to help reduce this. Local Cooling is an improved interface for these settings. Using it can help save money as well as reduce your carbon footprint

Using estimates based on the hardware in the computer LocalCooling works out the power consumption of the computer and how much difference changing the settings will make. A counter then shows how much power has been saved since the program was installed, and the equivalent gallons of oil or trees.

It uses a simple slider to change the power settings or you can specify the exact time before the monitor is switched off, the hard disk stops spinning and the computer shuts down or goes into hibernation. The shut down option is good but we would have preferred to have seen hibernation as the default. It is faster and there is less chance of work being lost if files have not been saved.

It is also possible to create a user account at www.localcooling.com to compare power savings with other users.