Housemates Computers wasting power what can I do?

pjbltd

Hi forum,

Could use your advice on something which is really bugging me.
My housemate (an architecture student) leaves both her laptop and newly bought desktop PC on 24/7 which to me seems like an awful waste of electricity and money.

From a bit of research I estimate the desktop must add about £25 a month to the leccy bill. (I worked it out as if it was a 300W bulb left on all the time)

300 Watts x 12p Per Kilowatt Hour x 24 hours x 30 days ~ £25

Do you think my estimates okay?

Any advice on what I can do? She's used to living with her rich parents and not having any consequences for leaving appliances (and lights while we are on the subject) on all the time.

There are 4 of us in the house in total, another guy handles the electricity bill and when it comes in quarterly we pay him all split evenly and it is always a shockingly high figure

I doubt how much I can change her bad habits so I am tempted to suggest to the others that she should pay an extra 20% more to try and cover this.

Please let me know what you think or any advice.

Many thanks

pjbltd

swingofthings

Is she any good with computers? If not, pop onto her computer and make it automatically shut down every night

Outpost

Ask her to switch it off at night? Am I being obtuse here or is the answer so astoundingly simple that you've neglected to consider it?

macman

Unlikely that it's averaging 300W, as it will switch into power saving mode-but still a waste.
Ask her to pay a higher contribution towards the monthly bill.

Cardew

I doubt if any computer will use 300w - 150w would be more likely; however it is the simplest thing to get the PC to 'sleep' after a period of no activity(say 20 minutes). and then it will use just a couple of Watts.

Sponge

If she won't turn it off overnight, then flick the electricity off and on (at the fuse box) after she's gone to sleep. :whistle:

Seriously, though. This could end up getting complicated, with comparisons of how much TV each of you watch, how much music you listen to, how many electrical items you each have in your rooms. I suggest a careful approach. Good luck.

hcb42

pjbltd wrote: »

(I worked it out as if it was a 300W bulb left on all the time)

300 Watts x 12p Per Kilowatt Hour x 24 hours x 30 days ~ £25

Do you think my estimates okay?

I can see the problem. It's your lightbulbs...!!

Seriously though, although your maths is correct your assumption is vastly out. If you do the same maths on 10-20w or whatever the standby rating is, then it is far lower. Then decide if it is worth the fight.

For what it is worth though, I DO think they should be turned off, for the combined drain on the power, and environmental impact. If you are going to go into battle with them, try this angle.

We have one of those meters that tells us the no of watts we are using, might be worth getting one

spike2012

To reduce this ask her politely, and look online for ways to set computers to go into sleep mode. A laptop typically only uses 60w and then much much less when in power save? mode, then less again if you set to hibernate.

What type of lights do you have in the flat? My guess is if its anything like any of the flats I've had in the last couple of years, you have spotlights. These eat energy at an unbelievable rate and my partner, daughter and I use less electricity in a 3 bed house with an addition of a tumble dryer, then we did in a ground floor flat with spot lights. 50w spot light fittings will take a 35w lamp

grizzly1911

1.) as others have said when the PC is not in use it's consumption does drop by quite a lot.

2.) As for the laptop leaving it powered on by the adaptor all the time will ruin the battery, might be worth mentioning that, as they cost quite a bit to replace.

rob_wiltshire

pjbltd wrote: »

From a bit of research I estimate the desktop must add about £25 a month to the leccy bill. (I worked it out as if it was a 300W bulb left on all the time)

300 Watts x 12p Per Kilowatt Hour x 24 hours x 30 days ~ £25

Do you think my estimates okay?

pjbltd

Hi

I suspect that your estimates are very much on the high side - I have my whole computer setup (PC, 22" flatscreen monitor, inkjet printer and speakers with subwoofer) running off an energy monitoring gizmo and in normal use (e.g as I type this now) it's showing 120 to 130 watts being used.

I leave my desktop PC switched on 24 hours a day and when it is not being used it is only set to turn off monitor and hard disks - not to go into sleep or hibernation mode. On this basis, and with the PC being used for around 1-3 hours a day, the energy monitor is showing that the daily cost is around 17 pence per day (we pay 8.429p/kWh).

I know that these monitors are not completely accurate but based on these figures (and assuming similar use and that her monitor hibernates when not in use) I would suspect the PC is costing just over a fiver per month and the laptop a bit less - a monthly total of maybe £9 or so?

Hope this helps

Ben84

Your estimate for the computer using 300w is high. This is an average rating for a desktop power supply - but this is the maximum it will consume. The actual electric drawn from the mains through the power supply depends on the components inside the computer and how much processing work the computer is performing at the time. Typically it will be much lower than the maximum however.

I'd be unhappy with someone leaving an appliance on 24 hours a day for no apparent reason as it's just burning money up for nothing. Asking her to pay more is however I suspect a bad choice. It's critical rather than constructive and it really is just opening the situation up for disagreements over bills. Ultimately, trying to portion out bills in shared houses is guesswork as nobody really has the data, just the total usage from the meters of everyone and assumptions end up being made and it gets complex.

Talking to everyone about the bills and ways to save by not wasting may be a good option. Show you're making an effort yourself and other people will normally be more receptive.