Windows Vista may not have all the support it needs, and it may also lack a few drivers and be associated with compatibility issues, but one thing that the latest operating system from Microsoft will do is get your computer sound asleep. And then wake it up immediately.

Cost savings via energy conservation may not mean anything to the average computer user but corporations with thousands of desktops can employ the power management capabilities of Windows Vista to save up a buck or two. Dean DeWhitt, director of Microsoft's Windows Kernel team has calculated the power that unused computers consume in a single year and has come up with a figure of $80 per computer.

"While education may be the key for many consumers, businesses are forced to balance cost and environmental impact against their own security and operations requirements," explained DeWhitt. "New power management features in Windows Vista are designed to help them with this challenge."

Generating $80 worth of electricity is equivalent to releasing 1,350 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere. Windows Vista will contribute to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by 45 tonnes per year for a 200-seat business, only through "Sleep" mode.

Windows Vista will not only optimize the system's power consumption in accordance with the level of activity but also deliver enhanced Sleep responsiveness. The operating system will store its current state and will respond almost immediately to the Sleep and the Wake up commands. "You should immediately see the screen go dark," DeWhitt said. "So it's a really crisp, responsive experience both going into sleep and coming back." Microsoft revealed that the average response time is just two seconds.

"If the majority of U.S. computer owners take advantage of the enhanced energy saving features in Windows Vista, we could easily cut our nation's electric bill by about $500 million per year, and prevent 3 million tons of global warming pollution from being emitted from electric power plants," commented senior scientist Noah Horowitz from the National Resource Defense Council. "This is the equivalent to preventing the pollution from 390,000 cars -- approximately the number of cars in the city of Seattle."