Is Microsoft's Vista helping fight global warming?

An interesting debate kicks off on Cleantech blog, although it’s short on a full answer (of course, Microsoft thinks it just great).

Greenbang runs on a combination of Windows XP and Mac OS. We’ve been scared of Windows Vista for the simple reason that we don’t feel like buying a whole new PC just in order to run it. This makes it an argument of: improved energy management tools VS a PC that’s 3 times more powerful (and thus draws more energy). Any takers?

But a more efficient energy management system would certainly be a plus–and if we’re completely honest, we could probably be better at shutting down rather than using standby; or turning off the screen when it’s not in use. In the meantime, we’re going to go tinker with the power settings, which we should have done ages ago.