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July 20, 2010
PC

Windows Recession Sweepstakes #3: Power-less

Microsoft takes our commitment to the environment seriously. We’re continually working to reduce the impact of both our operations and our products on our planet. In 2008, we set a company goal to reduce our carbon emissions per unit of revenue by at least 30% by 2012. Steps we’ll take to achieve this include improving energy efficiency in our buildings and operations, reducing air travel and increasing our use of renewable energies like solar and hydropower. However, we believe we can have the greatest impact by helping our 1 billion customers become more energy efficient.

Energy efficiency was a guiding principle in the design of Windows 7. With Windows 7, we’ve made it easy for you to reduce your power use, save money and conserve battery life. Take a look at this guide and optimize your PC today.

For IT Pros, it’s easier than ever to manage power use in their business. For example, they can now deploy power management policies to automatically power off displays or put machines to sleep after a period of inactivity. Other power management features of Windows 7 include Idle Power Management, Active Power Management, new diagnostics and improved remote management.

We’ve also taken measures to reduce waste in our product packaging. If you go into a store and pick up a copy of Windows 7, the package you’re holding is 37% lighter than a Windows Vista package. This and other improvements, including different types of material and more environmentally-friendly ink, saw the Windows 7 package’s econometrics score jump by more than 50% over its Windows Vista counterpart.

Round 3 of the Windows Recession Sweepstakes is now open! Until 8:00am tomorrow (July 21), leave a comment and let us know if you’d like to hear more from us at the Windows Experience Blog about environmental issues and how you can use technology to do your part to help out the planet.

Remember to follow me, Brandon, Ben and the Windows Blog on Twitter to find out more and hear about future rounds of the sweepstakes. If you’re interested in Green IT issues, also don’t forget to follow Microsoft_Green to stay up to speed on Microsoft’s work.

Because the contest has been so popular, we’ve extended it until August 31. There will still only be ten contests total (this is the third). Full Terms & Conditions of the sweepstakes are here.

Good luck!