Make PCs Greener

Azagoth said:
No!
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My system uses a total of 1 watt when switched off using the power button (including monitor). I'm not going to reach under my cupboards every time to pull the plug for the sake of 1 watt.
 
I always switch off at the wall. More a safety thing though and my powerpoint is convenient (also the neon lights on the 6 way surge protector are annoying at night :p ). As for PSU's, the best type will likely be the fanless ones. They don't often come in huge power ratings though (as pointed out, 300w is probably enough anyhow).
 
I ain't having a go at the people who do actually turn there PC's off but don't turn them off at the wall, your right it is a lot of effort and not always possible to turn it off at the wall. I can't get at my plugs easily so I don't. What I am having a go at is the people who leave stuff on 24/7 I mean seriously whats the point, if your PC's doing something, rendering something, being used as a webserver that sort of thing fine its got a reason to be on, if it ain't got a reason to be on switch it off.
 
My PC is never idle when switched on. In fact, I don't run 24\7 like I used to because my meager finances are affected by the ~£9 a month electricity cost.
 
ElRazur said:
Do anyone actually care? I leave tv, ps3, ps2, dvd, music studio all in stand by. I honestly dont see myself breaking the habit.
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It's exactly that kind of attitude that is not good these days. :(

I turn my laptop off even if I am not using it for an hour, all other electrical appliances completely off when not used. :)
 
Personally i always switch my pc and other stuff off when im not using it. But as others have said, we are a tiny country compared to the likes of China and US who as far as im aware don't see to give a crap about carbon emissions and what not. So until they pull their finger out and start doing something, we aren't really going to do much.
 
Amp34 said:
The 520W PSU would use 503W to power the PC

The 600W PSU would use 546W to power the PC

So the 600W uses mor power to power the same computer.
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The PSU only draws as much power as it needs. You could use a 1000W power supply to run a 386 and it wouldn't use much more than a 100W one.
 
Theoretically/ideally that is the case, but in practise it isn't. It only becomes very significant with quite extreme examples though.
 
I always switch off at the wall too. There's loads of LED's running if I don't and there's still power flowing through my PC.
I care about the amount of power I use. I probably wouldn't if my dad didn't keep moaning to me about the electricity bill. If I want to leave something downloading - I use my laptop. Simple.

We also used to switch the router off at night but then they stopped putting power buttons on them :p
 
Azagoth said:
Why not just put a tax on tax instead? Oh, hang on a bit...................:rolleyes:
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LOL.
Its certainly the way this government is heading.

Tax on air wouldnt be too far away in the future if this government had its way.

Also, Intel are playing their part in the invention of Speedstep technology which adjusts the speed and voltage of their Core2Duo cpus according to the cpu load. So when idle, less power is used. Im not too sure just how much power is saved by using this tech.
 
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What do they mean by a typical PC though, im sure my laptop is very efficient, otherwise the battery wouldnt go for 4 hours.
 
It would be good if corporations turned off their inefficient Dells etc (especially older ones with CRT monitors), instead of leaving them on 24\7. That'd save a lot of electricity.
 
I bought a power meter from well can't say, but it lets you monitor what power usage is going through a socket.

Plugged into a surge protector i have my pc tower, 20" TFT, speakers, router and modem.
At the moment just browsing the internet it is reporting using ~169watts.
When i go into a CPU intensive program like a game or something it very rarely tops 200watts.
Also i have my xbox 360 plugged on the same surge protector and when i power that on it reports 307watts while everything above is still on. So it proves that the 360 is more power hungry.

Although i do agree power wastage is an issue, as i do turn off pc's that people have left on at work when they have gone home. I'm with Fox on this one, we can do all we want to save energy and such and India and China will just fill the gap.
 
[TW]Fox said:
But they ARE responsible for the biggest GROWTH of C02 in recent years and will soon overtake the USA.
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Catch 22 though. Everything is made in China, so you can't impose sanctions on them (on anything, be it CO2 or human rights) without severely disrupting world trade.
 
vonhelmet said:
The PSU only draws as much power as it needs. You could use a 1000W power supply to run a 386 and it wouldn't use much more than a 100W one.
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What you are forgetting is the efficiency of the PSU. No PSU is 100% efficient, most are about 70-80% efficient at about 80% usage range. Thats what I was getting at. No a 1000W PSU does not draw 1000W from the plug in an every day PC but it will be a lot less efficient at say 500W than a designated 520 or 600W PSU. Have a look at any decent review site and they will always show the efficiency of a PSU at certain levels. :)

Stellios said:
What do they mean by a typical PC though, im sure my laptop is very efficient, otherwise the battery wouldnt go for 4 hours.
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I worked it out in another post, from their numbers it looks like a 150-200W computer which I would say something like a mid range to lowish modern PC, say something in the £400-£500 range. :) (maybe a highish P4 with a fx5 series card :confused: )
 
russellcram said:
We might only produce 1 tonne over 3 years, for one PC, each, so not a lot you might think. Hmm but wait theres millions and millions of PC's in this country alone. Heck lets take the forum population, currently 23,984, thats 23,984 tonnes of CO2 less over 3 years. But how many of us have more than one computer? I bet its rather a few, I know I do. Then if you factor in everything else, TV's, Consoles, lights, heating etc etc before you know it the population of this forum has reduced the CO2 output by maybe 30-40,000 tonnes over 3 years. And theres only 24,000 of us.

As soon as you start thinking in terms of the entire population of the UK and then the world you soon realise just how much of an impact we could all make.
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No, you clearly don't realise how LITTLE impact we could all make. Do you not realise that the CO2 output of the entire UK is about 2% of the world total? So even if the UK sank into the north sea tomorrow and we never outputted anything ever again, it would make no difference. China, India and the rest would soon make up for the shortfall.

And why do we do it, cause we're lazy, we can't be bothered to wait a few mins for our computers to turn on. Thats no excuse, stop being lazy and start having an impact, if you ain't using it turn it off, save yourself money and the environment.
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It is nothing to do with being lazy; my PC runs 24/7 not only because it is more convenient for me to switch it on whenever I want and it is ready to use immediately; nor is it only because I run p2p apps overnight (when ADSL is unmetered).

Do you not realise that computer components are most likely to fail on start-up, and they will actually last longer if left on 24/7 than having to go through the start-up cycle from cold every day? That's right - it is false economy to switch off every night. You save a few pennies on your electricity yet may have to buy a new hard drive or graphics card sooner than you would otherwise need to. The manufacture of those items would require FAR more CO2 emissions than your PC uses. Do you get it? :confused:
 
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