TechTips - How to Create a Power Usage Report in Windows 7 Using the Powercfg Built in Tool

I know you are probably thinking what the heck is a powercfg built in tool and why would I use it? Well Windows 7 comes with all sorts of cool toys and this is one of them. It's a simple command line tool that will create a report that details all of your power consumption that is created by your PC and some easy ways to fix excessive power use. It's very easy to use and in this guide I will walk you through how to run the command, what the details say, and best practices for minimizing the power consumption of your PC.

So first the obvious reason for this tool is to optimize your computers settings so that you use as little power as possible. Everyone's reason for trying to use less power will be different, maybe you are eco friendly and want to be "greener" or maybe you are like me and you are overly cheap and want to reduce your electric bill anyway possible. Whatever the case maybe this little command line tool is going to help you get to your final goal of less power consumption.

So to get your detailed report about your PC's power usage by using the Power configuration utility just follow these steps:

Click Start

Click Search Bar

Type CMD

Hit Enter

Type powercfg -energy

Hit Enter

Depending on your PC this command might take a minute or two to run, if it takes much more than five minutes you might have a problem with your PC. After the command runs it should give you a short detail report within the command line window. It will tell you limited info like the number of errors you have, the number of warnings and some informational details. Then it will also list a directory with an HTML file that you can go view for all of the details about your power consumption report. Usually this directory is located at (C:\Windows\System32\energy-report.html) simply go to the directory and view this HTML file for all of your information.

The energy report will give you loads of details and ideas on how to better curb your power consumption. This report will detail all of the areas that you can make changes to that will help you to consume less energy with your PC.