Computer electricity costs

hansi

Just as a matter of interest, how much electricity would a computer that is always switched on use per day?

pinky8

I would be interested to know aswell

Thanks

Smiley_Mum

This site is American but gives you a formula to work out the energy consumption. Apparently two thirds of the energy used by a pc is due to the monitor being on.

http://www-ed.fnal.gov/ntep/f98/projects/nrel_energy_2/measurement.html

This might be of some use too -

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=428304#post428304

Curry_Queen

I noticed there wasn't a wattage for a kettle on that list, and is probably a source of high consumption for a lot of people. What I do to try and minimise cost of using kettle (considering I drink a large amount of coffee during a morning) is to fill the kettle up for my first cup and buy the time I need my second the water is usually still hot enough not to have to re-boil. By the third cup it usually needs switching back on but doesn't take as long as the water is still warm, 4th no boil required and so on. I only re-boil a max of 3 times though as the water is fairly hard in my area and you can start to taste the lime in it after 3 boils

My biggest source of energy consumption is from keeping reptiles, each of which require 100-250W heat sources for at least 14 hours a day, and lower amount during the night :rolleyes:

Good tip about the PC monitor though as I keep my PC's on 24/7, but the monitors usually power down after an hour of no use, but it might be worth switching them off when not in use to save a bit more

Also, something I was told by an energy advisor, is that appliances left on standby (e.g. tv's, hi-fi's, vcr's etc) still use power and should really be switched off completely

hansi

Carrying on from that, I have a TFT computer screen which I have set to automatically switch off after 10 minutes of inactivity but it is the CRT monitors which use a lot of juice. Your tip about standby on appliances is true, but I still use standby on my video recorder and my hi fi because because otherwise it loses all the settings in memory, including clock settings. I always switch my TV off, never leave it on stanby unless it's only for a short period.

Smiley_Mum

When you boil the kettle the first time, why don't you fill a flask and then you don't have to worry about the lime taste in your water? Also, I usually just boil enough water for a cup anyway, have one of those energy saving Russell Hobbs Millennium kettles (supposed to be collectible going by a book I read in M&S). I think in your local electricity suppliers shop, if you have one, they should have a little book on the general running costs of things too. I switch off the TV and Freeview box from the wall when not in use too.

Xbigman

Why leave a computer switched on if you are not using it? I turn mine off when I finish with it.

As already mentioned, your monitor should go into standby mode after a set length of time but you can alter the length of time it takes in your windows settings. Mine is set to 5 minutes.
Regards



X

slinks

Xbigman wrote:

Why leave a computer switched on if you are not using it? I turn mine off when I finish with it.

As already mentioned, your monitor should go into standby mode after a set length of time but you can alter the length of time it takes in your windows settings. Mine is set to 5 minutes.
Regards



X

i'm on broadband and leave stuff downloading 24-7 when i'm not on it so that's one reason why a pc could be left on all day will be turning the monitor off now though rather than just standby

Phonix

Id have thought you can go by the power settings on the computer ie 400watts etc, only problem being that if I'm not mistaken power usage will vary alot and hence when the computer is left idle, less cpu cycles etc will cause the PC to use alot less power.

If you are really worried about power usage though and don't want to use your PC for fps gaming etc; just use a laptop.

My last laptop was an absolute beast and ran most fps games extremely well, yewt the according to the powersupply only had a work rate of 150 watts at the maximum and that's for both the monitor and the computer.

hansi

Smiley_Mum wrote:

When you boil the kettle the first time, why don't you fill a flask and then you don't have to worry about the lime taste in your water? Also, I usually just boil enough water for a cup anyway, have one of those energy saving Russell Hobbs Millennium kettles (supposed to be collectible going by a book I read in M&S). I think in your local electricity suppliers shop, if you have one, they should have a little book on the general running costs of things too. I switch off the TV and Freeview box from the wall when not in use too.

I switch the TV off but not the freeview box. It can't use that much power in standy, can it? And you can't get the downloads if it's not switched on.

hansi

slinks wrote:

i'm on broadband and leave stuff downloading 24-7 when i'm not on it so that's one reason why a pc could be left on all day will be turning the monitor off now though rather than just standby

I agree. It probably takes more power to switch a computer on and off rather than leaving it on all day and the components last longer too.