Unfortunately there&#x27;s no easy answer to the correct solution. One method is to setup interrupt service routines and put the mcu to sleep the rest of the time. There are a couple libraries that provide convenient interfaces to AVR&#x27;s sleep lib e.g <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;playground.arduino.cc&#x2F;Code&#x2F;Enerlib" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;playground.arduino.cc&#x2F;Code&#x2F;Enerlib</a><p>The basic idea is that it is possible to put the chip into lower-power mode... but you need a way to wake it up after that. That could be an interrupt, watchdog timer... etc<p>Another thing to note is that for most applications the mcu&#x27;s power consumption will be negligible with respect to the peripherals&#x27;, so the average person shouldn&#x27;t care much.