The present invention relates to a method for reducing the power consumption of a charged particle system, the charged particle system comprising at least one charged particle optics element and a cooling assembly configured for cooling the at least one charged particle optics element, the method comprising the steps of running the charged particle system in a standby mode, wherein the total power consumption of the charged particle system is reduced compared to running the charged particle system in an operating mode. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a respective charged particle system.