Make PCs Greener

[manveruppd]

the accumulation of warm-up damage (given all the modern surge-protection etc) will be so slow, that you will have upgraded your PC, long before it becomes in any way significant.

Strange statement coming from a guy whose power supply I replaced less than a year ago...

 

[Jonny ///M]

Just after i got my TFT i decided to check how much power my pc uses but ive yet to buy the thing to check it.

It's only because my mums going through like £80 a month sometimes.

I leave my pc on overnight and will admit its sometimes not doing anything but a defrag but i turn my monitor off and put my 5.1kit on standby. My brother on the other hand leaves his pc fully on playing family guy/friends/father ted or whatever playing while he falls asleep so its PC + crt monitor + sound.

I also agree anything we do is soooooo tiny in the scale of things. I mean ive saw pictures of a single persons folding farm in the US,people having 15 pcs and all sorts all on constantly

 

[sunama]

I mean ive saw pictures of a single persons folding farm in the US,people having 15 pcs and all sorts all on constantly

That doesnt surprise me as the USA is the biggest user of power in the world. Ive noticed there are some posts that make reference to China and India. Indeed these countries are moving up (in terms of power usage and CO2 emissions), but lets not forget USA is still the most fuel hungry country there is. So much so that they are currently waging wars in the Middle East, killing Iraqis and sacrificing their own soldiers to secure cheap fuel, though thats a whole different discussion.

Incidentally, I used to live in a flat that had a small electricity meter that had a wheel on it. The faster it span the more power was being used and more I was paying. I noticed that my 5.1 amplifier used A LOT of power. So, we know that CRTs and PCs use decent amounts of power, but lets not forget about the amplifiers we use for sound.

 

[TheVoice]

Furthermore, some people who hear this advice think it applies to ALL electrical equipment, even the ones without a step-down transformer, so obsessively turn off every socket, even if the only thing connected to it is a desk lamp. It's a pet peeve of mine, especially when people are so obsessed about doing it that way that they feel the need to tell you off for not doing it.

My hosuemate is a bit like that. She's obsessive over her socket switches in her room (I bet if I go into her room now, everything will be turned off). Fortunately she doesn't enforce it on the rest of us. I seem to remember her asking me a few weeks ago "Will my lamp be using power if it's off, but the socket switch is on?". Umm....

I personally adopt the in-between attitude. If something has a power/standby button, I'll use that to turn it on and off; I'm not getting on my knees to go crawling under my desk to switch my sockets on and off all day. If it doesn't (i.e. a phone charger), it'll be turned off at the socket switch. I don't leave lights on if I don't need them (although I won't switch a light on and off constantly all evening because that just destroys the lifetime of the bulb/tube). My PC stays on all day if I'm here or going out for just a few hours, but I'll switch it off when I go to Uni for a full day (only happens twice a week...). It does get turned off at night now though. I also turn my monitor off if I'm leaving the PC for any significant amount of time; else it turns off after 15 mins anyway.

Here's one: Does anyone else think that energy saving lightbulbs are just slightly counter-effective? I'm sure they save energy, but when they cost about £4 and a normal lightbulb is 9p from Tesco, any money savings as a result of less energy used are lost to the purchase price, surely? Don't see the point myself.

 

[Siliconslave]

if people really can't be bothered to make the smallest bits of effort to help the environment because some other country is "just going to keep doing it" then were really doomed

some of the younger members might not remeber the big environmental issue of the 80s, namily the hole we managed to produce in the ozone layer. By individual contries makeing their stand an international agreement was reached in 86 to cease the use of CFCs (a oxzon depleating chemical) and subsiquently the damage we did to that perticular part of the environment has been halted, and is slowly reverting to a safe & stable state.

The same could be done with carbon emissions - we can life on this earth and happily rape it of its usefulness, polluteing its air and destroying its land and were not going to be the ones that pay, its going to be our children that will be left with the mess we've created. I for one am not overly happy about that.

So in my own little ways i try and make a difference - i'll do it regardless of thouse that can't be bothered, or don't think it will make a difference because i think it needs to be done. I don't do it how can i expect anyone else, on a single or continental level, to do it for me?

 

[dirtydog]

Here's one: Does anyone else think that energy saving lightbulbs are just slightly counter-effective? I'm sure they save energy, but when they cost about £4 and a normal lightbulb is 9p from Tesco, any money savings as a result of less energy used are lost to the purchase price, surely? Don't see the point myself.

You're right about that. And also apparently the energy-saving bulbs use more power initially than normal bulbs, so cost more if you only use them for short periods.

 

[barkingcat]

Here's one: Does anyone else think that energy saving lightbulbs are just slightly counter-effective? I'm sure they save energy, but when they cost about £4 and a normal lightbulb is 9p from Tesco, any money savings as a result of less energy used are lost to the purchase price, surely? Don't see the point myself.

It's like double glazing - the idea is that the energy bill savings offset the initial expense. An energy saving light bulb can be about four times cheaper to run than a conventional one, not to mention the fact that it lasts a hell of a lot longer.

 

[Siliconslave]

Here's one: Does anyone else think that energy saving lightbulbs are just slightly counter-effective? I'm sure they save energy, but when they cost about £4 and a normal lightbulb is 9p from Tesco, any money savings as a result of less energy used are lost to the purchase price, surely? Don't see the point myself.

assuming a cost of 12p per kWh, a normal bulb costs about .7p per hour to run. A 12w LE equivalent, costs just .14p per hourh.
Morrisons are cutrrently selling philips LE bulbs for 99p. They can be bought for less, but stick to a quality brand for now. your tesco bulb cost 9p?
so your making a saving of around .5p per hour, so it would take ~180hrs, or just over one week of continuious use to make the 90p difference back, added to the fact they tend to last upto 4 times longer your onto a winner

Now I know some of the cheaper bulbs have issues with warm up time, and quality of light, but I would urge people who have doubts to try the philips ones, or any other quality brand, as they really are much better than they used to be.

Think about it, if every single light bulb in your house lasted at least 4 times longer, and cost a fifth to run, how much money do you think you can save? how much energy won't have to be produced to light those bulbs?

 

[barkingcat]

Strange statement coming from a guy whose power supply I replaced less than a year ago...

But a power supply is an electrical device, not an electronic one.

The reason it blew up in the first place was to protect the sensitive bits. So, in its own kamikaze way, it served as a very effective surge protector.

Besides, all this had nowt to do with long-term warm-up damage. It blew up the first time I plugged it in in my current house - something to do with my landlords crazy wiring. I, subsequently, went and bought an actual surge protector, which is probably why the power supply you put in is still alive.

 

[z0mbi3]

The way I see it is that I'm paying for a service. My flat is producing next to no co2, my pc produces none. If the electricity supplier isn't green then it should be up to them to become green. If this means they have to impose sanctions and stop lining their pockets then so be it.

Yes yes I know its my planet and I have to live in it, future generations and all that, but I firmly believe the biggest change will come from sourcing our energy elsewhere.

 

[manveruppd]

But a power supply is an electrical device, not an electronic one.

The reason it blew up in the first place was to protect the sensitive bits. So, in its own kamikaze way, it served as a very effective surge protector.

Besides, all this had nowt to do with long-term warm-up damage. It blew up the first time I plugged it in in my current house - something to do with my landlords crazy wiring. I, subsequently, went and bought an actual surge protector, which is probably why the power supply you put in is still alive.

Nevertheless, it demonstrated my point amply! Seriously, even in a well-wired house spikes in the voltage frequently occur when the electricity is turned on at the socket. It's just that 99% of them are too small to cause any damage.

Yes yes I know its my planet and I have to live in it, future generations and all that, but I firmly believe the biggest change will come from sourcing our energy elsewhere.

You're absolutely right, but unless we consumers demonstrate our determination to see this change no corporation and no government is gonna take the hit and be the first to do it.
With the exception of step-down transformers (which on average only consume 2-3W AT MOST when the device they're powering is off), thinking that you save electricity by switching things off at the socket is like trying to save water by going round the back of your house and turning off the water supply valve at the meter: sure you'll save the few drops that would've leaked from your dripping faucet, but not much else.