Saving electricity by turning computer off?

Roberta1

I need to be online a fair amount, but hubby keeps nagging me to turn the computer off when I am not using it, to save electricity.

My question is, which is more fuel efficient:
1) to run the PC all day, or
2) to turn off and turn on several times during the day (say 5?)

I'd be grateful for your thoughts!

1carminestocky

Put it in hibernate when not in use, it burns almost no leccy and should start up almost instantaneously when you want to use it again so no huge power surge to get it running again. HTH. You should view the PC as you would a TV - you wouldn't leave the TV on while you wasn't watching it so IMO the PC should be the same.

horsechestnut

What is "hibernate" please?

1carminestocky

horsechestnut wrote: »

What is "hibernate" please?

It can be found in the Control Panel of Windows, under Power Options and gives you the option of putting your PC into 'standby' after a set period of inactivity (which you can decide). There are also other options like turning off the hard disk after a time of inactivity etc. Have a look. In Windows XP the hibernate button can also be accessed by going Start, then click on Turn Off Computer, there's a HIbernate button to press there. HTH.

Trune

Hibernate uses no electricity if setup right, but you still get exactly the same surges when you turn on again. It will take up to 30+ seconds to turn on depending how much memory u have in ur machine, more memory means slower startup.

Standby starts up almost instantly, but again has the same surge, and still uses power when in standby like any other device.

Hibernation is best for returning back to how u want it, without using power when in the mode

standby is best for saving leccy, but still using a little, but with a very fast resume time.

phildamb

this all depends on what PSU your computer has and also what external devices you have connected. If you have things like printers,scanners and external drives connected you would save more electricity by turning them off until they are used. If you are using a computer with a 500Watt powersupply then thats a maximum of roughly half a unit an hour. If you need the computer on so much it may be better to invest in a cheap laptop. A laptop uses at most 100W/h so it would take 10 hours to use enough to notice....I think B&Q are still selling the plug in energy monitors for 7.99 so could be worth buying one to see exactly what your PC is using.

espresso

phildamb wrote: »

this all depends on what PSU your computer has and also what external devices you have connected. If you have things like printers,scanners and external drives connected you would save more electricity by turning them off until they are used. If you are using a computer with a 500Watt powersupply then thats a maximum of roughly half a unit an hour. If you need the computer on so much it may be better to invest in a cheap laptop. A laptop uses at most 100W/h so it would take 10 hours to use enough to notice....I think B&Q are still selling the plug in energy monitors for 7.99 so could be worth buying one to see exactly what your PC is using.

No because 500W is the maximum output power rating. Most desktops only use a maximum of about 150W input power!

:rolleyes:

phildamb

espresso wrote: »

No because 500W is the maximum output power rating. Most desktops only use a maximum of about 150W input power!

:rolleyes:

Thats why its an idea to put an energy meter on the computers plug to see what sort of demands it is making. PSUs are only about 75% efficient depending on the age of the Power supply you may save money by simply changing the power supply to a newer more efficient model.

An example is that I have a 650Watt (output) rated power supply. Its supposed to be roughly 80% efficient so under full usage (which mine does due to graphics card and numerous drives inside) Im probably using about 800+Watts (from the mains) in an hour, so its costing me about 10p an hour to run my machine.

*EDIT*
Just found this, it may help explain a few bits...

http://energy.opp.psu.edu/awareness-...tion/computers

espresso

phildamb wrote: »

Thats why its an idea to put an energy meter on the computers plug to see what sort of demands it is making. PSUs are only about 75% efficient depending on the age of the Power supply you may save money by simply changing the power supply to a newer more efficient model.

An example is that I have a 650Watt (output) rated power supply. Its supposed to be roughly 80% efficient so under full usage (which mine does due to graphics card and numerous drives inside) Im probably using about 800+Watts (from the mains) in an hour, so its costing me about 10p an hour to run my machine.

*EDIT*
Just found this, it may help explain a few bits...

http://energy.opp.psu.edu/awareness-...tion/computers

Try measuring it, it won't be anything like 800+W.

:rotfl:

phildamb

espresso wrote: »

Try measuring it, it won't be anything like 800+W.

:rotfl:

If I have nothing but my computer running with just the LCD screen I use 1 unit an hour (or an hour and a bit) So yes its not far off...

espresso

phildamb wrote: »

If I have nothing but my computer running with just the LCD screen I use 1 unit an hour (or an hour and a bit) So yes its not far off...

Not another OWL user are you?