Make a change on Earth Day.

I know that Earth Day is still more than a month away and a lot of people think it is just a day for environmentalists. I don’t see it that way. For me, it’s a day to do something for the environment, how small the act may be.

Step down on your energy habits!

1.) Most people do not know that chargers still chew up power even if their device has already been charged. For energy hogs, uplugging your chargers once the battery is full is already a huge step. According to a European-led Commission, if this simple habit is practiced by even a tiny fraction of the globe, enough energy can be saved to power thousands of households. Do check your gadgets when charging and help reduce your utility bill and unwanted carbon emissions.

2.) Proper ethics in using your computer is another way to have a power diet. In an article entitled “Do you need to turn off your PC at night?“, Microsoft rolled out a few myth breakers.

Turning your PC off uses more energy than leaving it on. Not true. The small surge of power you use when turning it on — which varies per PC make and model — is still much smaller than the amount you use in keeping it on for lengthy periods.

Turning your PC on and off wears it out. A decade ago, there was something to this, but not today, say Hershberg and others. It used to be that PC hard disks did not automatically park their heads when shut off, and that frequent on/off cycling could damage the hard disks. Today’s PCs are designed to handle 40,000 on/off cycles before a failure, and that’s a number you likely won’t reach during the computer’s five-to-seven-year life span.

Screen savers save energy. Not true. Screen savers, at a minimum, can use 42 watts; those with 3D graphics can use as much as 114.5 watts, according to Don McCall, a Dell product marketing manager who does power measurement studies for the PC manufacturer. “It’s absolutely wrong thinking that a screen saver will save energy,” he says.

Your computer uses zero energy when “off.” That’s true only if it is unplugged. Otherwise, the PC utilizes “flea power,” or about 2.3 watts, to maintain local-area network connectivity, among other things, McCall says. In “hibernate” mode, your PC uses the same 2.3 watts; in “sleep” mode, your PC uses about 3.1 watts. Monitors do use zero energy when turned off.

3.) Electric fans use more energy when they are oscillating. It is advised to focus the electric fan on one spot.

4.) The louder the volume of your television sets and radios are, the more energy it sucks up.

5.) Change your incandescent bulbs to energy-efficient compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs. Fluorescent bulbs give out approximately four times as much brightness per watt. Use a 25-watt CFL bulb instead of a 100-watt incandescent bulb. It makes you save energy. CFLs also last about ten times longer.

Lose carbon calories. Start your power diet now and gear up for Earth Day!