Daedalus_IHB
New member
<em>*In the spirit of saving money and becoming a bit more eco-friendly*</em>
Yesterday I started playing with my <a href="http://www.p3international.com/products/special/P4400/P4400-CE.html">killawatt</a> doodad. As an engineer, quantifying things is a compulsive need. And no surprise I've got a lot of electricity-devouring geek-things around the house. Modems, routers, external drives, etc. There are a handful of things on my desk that are always on, even when my computer is off. Here are some readings, in watts:
Cable modem: 5
Router: 7
External DVD drive: 8
External hard drive: 8
Monitor 1 (off): 1
Monitor 2 (off): 4
Printer: 2
Speakers: 2
.
Even the various battery backup systems take their cut. All told, with my computer "off" the stuff on and under my desk uses 55 watts. Over a year this works out to 482 KW-hours. I'm solidly in the "Tier 3" power price bracket, which means my marginal cost for electricity right now is about 25 cents per KW-hour. If I were to unplug everything at my desk, I would save over $120/year. I figure I should knock off 20% from this for the time I'm actually using the equipment (thanks IHB %-P ), so roughly $100 savings in a year. The only difference is I need to turn the root battery box on and off. I will probably put the modem and router on a separate power strip so I can access the net via my laptop without powering up.
.
Some things, like lamps, are off when they're off. Modern TVs and other appliances often have some measure of energy use even when they're off (some just to receive the signal from the remote control). I'm not saying to unplug things that keep time or have "volatile" memory settings, but there's potential to save a bit here and there. My laptop charger drains a couple watts even if the laptop isn't plugged in.
.
A little FYI:
Gasoline is still very cheap, relative to what Edison thinks energy is worth. A gallon of gas costs about $4.50. The same amount of energy from my wall outlet (@ Tier 3 pricing) would cost me $9.00.
Yesterday I started playing with my <a href="http://www.p3international.com/products/special/P4400/P4400-CE.html">killawatt</a> doodad. As an engineer, quantifying things is a compulsive need. And no surprise I've got a lot of electricity-devouring geek-things around the house. Modems, routers, external drives, etc. There are a handful of things on my desk that are always on, even when my computer is off. Here are some readings, in watts:
Cable modem: 5
Router: 7
External DVD drive: 8
External hard drive: 8
Monitor 1 (off): 1
Monitor 2 (off): 4
Printer: 2
Speakers: 2
.
Even the various battery backup systems take their cut. All told, with my computer "off" the stuff on and under my desk uses 55 watts. Over a year this works out to 482 KW-hours. I'm solidly in the "Tier 3" power price bracket, which means my marginal cost for electricity right now is about 25 cents per KW-hour. If I were to unplug everything at my desk, I would save over $120/year. I figure I should knock off 20% from this for the time I'm actually using the equipment (thanks IHB %-P ), so roughly $100 savings in a year. The only difference is I need to turn the root battery box on and off. I will probably put the modem and router on a separate power strip so I can access the net via my laptop without powering up.
.
Some things, like lamps, are off when they're off. Modern TVs and other appliances often have some measure of energy use even when they're off (some just to receive the signal from the remote control). I'm not saying to unplug things that keep time or have "volatile" memory settings, but there's potential to save a bit here and there. My laptop charger drains a couple watts even if the laptop isn't plugged in.
.
A little FYI:
Gasoline is still very cheap, relative to what Edison thinks energy is worth. A gallon of gas costs about $4.50. The same amount of energy from my wall outlet (@ Tier 3 pricing) would cost me $9.00.