I wasn't sure if I should post this topic here in "Project Development" or in "Development & Technical Discussion".  Maybe I'll post there too.

I would think surely others have requested a similar feature, but didn't find it by doing forum searches.  The one feature I would like to see is something to the effect of Coin Generation being on, but a setting/option that can be checked that tells Bitcoin to pause coin generation unless the computer/PC has not been in use for X minutes, where you can change the X value.  So, for example, one can set Bitcoin to pause (not generate bitcoins) unless the PC has not been in use for 2 minutes.  Obviously, the option would have no effect if coin generation is currently off (un-checked).

I like being able to throttle down the number of cores/processors being used, but I don't like only having the black and white of coin generation being on or off.  I personally don't want coin generation on all the time in most cases, but do want the Bitcoin program to take advantage of idle time where I leave the room for a few minutes here and there and don't put my PC to sleep or hibernation.  (I use Windows 7 primarily.)

I hope all of that makes sense.   

I respectfully disagree.  I don't want to see Bitcoin creating upwards of 30% or more CPU usage by just turning on Coin Generation, even with it set to use the least amount of processors/cores.  Sure, I can and have been turning Coin Generation on/off, but I would imagine more and more "common" users out there (not hardcore Bitcoin enthusiasts) might like to have the program more convenient and more "green" by only generating coins (and therefore taxing the CPU, using energy, and creating heat) when the system is idle for X time.

When it takes a year to earn a single block, you are not being green.  You are spending $$$ in electricity, for a single 50 BTC block.

Any environmentalist with an iota of common sense will see this as pointlessly burning coal to generate wasted electricity.

Input your hash rate here to see how useless is CPU mining:  http://www.alloscomp.com/bitcoin/calculator.php

What OS are you using? I know that the Windows Task Scheduler in Win7 has pretty powerful options for running tasks only when the system is idle. You could have this control an RPC mining program. If you want, I could probably write up a short tutorial on making this work.