In this work, we study the response of a Tin Dioxide (SnO2) sensor under ethanol exposure to enable alcohol monitoring under a number of different power conditions (continuous and cyclical heating) in order to investigate the impact of reduced system level power consumption on sensor sensitivity. The sensitive thin layer of SnO2 with a thickness of 50nm was deposited by a magnetron reactive sputtering technique. The power consumption of the SnO2 sensor when continuously heated was 53mW (280°C). In the case of a cyclical heating operating mode, power consumption was 13mW when a frequency of 16mHz was used. The division of power consumption by four results in a slight decrease in the sensitivity of the sensor of about 25%.