While you sleep your computer is guzzling energy waiting for you to wake and start to surf again. Turn your computer off overnight to save energy. Make sure you turn off all the peripherals too, like the printer and monitor, or get an IntelliPlug to control it with one flick of a switch. Tip: label your plugs to see what's what, it's like a jungle down there!
Not a difficult one as the fans in mine are so noisy I'd never sleep (and it's in the next room!), monitor and speakers get turned off as well.
I'm the git who entered a new work place and took advantage of leaving late to actually turn everything off - very fun to watch people finding power buttons on their computers for the first time.
I do at least know as a user that PCs benefit from a good sleep every now and then.
my computer is only on, when im actually sitting at it! never just leave it on.... what a waste!
I've been doing this for all my life. Why would anybody leave their computer on all the night? I can't see any good reason for that...
I always have my computers configured to be as energy efficient as possible.
I always do this at home and at the office, I turn the monitor off too, never leave it in standby. It's a habit for me.
ALways do it at home so easy goal to meet - turn offeverything was instilled at an early age during 1970's energy crisis. Recently helped to set up an ISO14001 scheme at office including a turn off policy - found it very hard going as ethos was that 'its not my bill! However we ran competitions did spot checks and gave out choccies as prizes and the rate of turn off has really improved. Lights, fans and computers. Poster and reminder post its all played a part. However it took real managemtn buy in and really dedicated people to make it work
When I was a kid, we used to leave the computer on all the time - interestingly enough - in an effort to conserve energy. The idea back then was that the energy required to start a computer (get the fans up to speed, initialize all the disks, etc) was greater - for us - than the energy required to keep it going for the short gaps where it wasn't in use.
Of course, that's less and less valid every year, as many components consume less power with every iteration, and as an adult, I find that I use my home computer for less of the day than I did as a kid, so I've been turning it off regularly for years now.
But, for the record, there may still be some value in leaving your computer on overnight if it's in use constantly. Say you have a father who checks the weather and traffic information every morning before work, a wife who runs a home eBay business during the day, and kids who surf well into the night. For the few short gaps where it'll be turned off, it may be more energy-efficient to leave it on. This would be best checked with a power meter before deciding one way or another, though.
Most new Dell desktops consume between 1.5 and 5 Watt in Sleep-Mode, according to their US website (can’t find any info on their Irish web-site).
The more I am trying to answer someone’s questions and my own, the more I realise that it is really worth it to invest in a power meter and see what kind of an effect it has to turn a device off. I am going to make this my next task. :-)
don't be so pernickity emilio
you have no answers so don't rubbish the question
some people like to understand the implications of what they're doing
the question IS how much energy is saved.
if you think you're on a patience website you're even dimmer than your energy saving comment below.
With regards to edster's 'story' below, which should probably be a "Q(&A)" I don't know how much power a Dell Desktop consumed in Sleep moder, but I wonder the same thing about my (iMac). However, I think the point about this goal is just to do it and not to be pernickety (wow! not sure I've written that word before) about how much you'll save or how worth it it is. It's not so much 'how much will it save?' but more 'how long can't you wait until you computer has started up?!' If it seems to take a long time, then power up the computer first thing and then go make a cup of tea, or clean your teeth, or open the post. You might find yourself enjoying more tea, cleaner teeth, or actually getting more filing done in the process!
Anyone know how much power is consumed when a Dell Desktop type pc is in "sleep" mode? It is not fully off and starts up quicker. I usually turn off my bome completely at night, but sometimes use the "sleep" mode when I need it to start up really quickly.
Basically, it's wrong.
Electronic items are ratted at MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure). This is the average time it takes for it to break. This figure is all to do with how long something is used for, not how many times it is used.
Physical things with moving parts like switches (even plugs) are more effected by their frequency of use, but for electronics it'll live longer if you switch it off.
That's a good one to have put to rest, thanks!
With CRT monitors and such (very old school now I suppose...) I always felt uncertain turning them off what with that thing bouncing around my head. So I tended to do about half-and-half, thanks for setting me straight.
I'd think so, considering it lasts a good week.
Check it out ,<a href="http://www.apple.com/environment/energyefficiency/>here</a>
@dctanner - Clagnut might also have been asking about desktop Macs in sleep mode.
I try and turn it off when possible, but I reckon sleep mode is still quite energy efficient.
Negligible yes, but it still exists. There is a term used recently called Vampire Power. http://www.grinningplanet.com/2004/10-26/vampire-power-electricity-article.htm
Many appliances use power even when off. Computers, cell phones charges, steroes, tv's, etc all use electricity even when they are not on.
So if you're trying to reduce your waste, then turn off and unplug your appliances when not in use.
A couple of years ago I bought a plug in power meter which tells me how much current, voltage and power a device is using. It also tracks power consumption over time i.e. how many units your using. It's great and realy concentrates the mind when it comes to turning things off.
Anyhow, I currently have it on my iMac and when I put it to Sleep it draws 3 watts, so next to nothing. When I shut it down it continues to draw 2 watts! When I unplug it, it draws 0 watts.
So, if you don't flick the switch on the wall then you might as use Sleep! I tend to Sleep it during the day and turn it off at the wall at night.
Now the real power savings come with screen brightness. As I type this on my 20" iMac with my brightness at minimum the meter reads 47 watts, give me a second... OK my screen is now at full brightness and the meter reads 69 watts!
That's getting close to a 50% increase in power consumption!!
How much energy does it cost to turn off the imac, and then on again? I guess sometimes that would be more energy used up than if you just left it sleeping. I think the manual says to turn the imac off if your not using it for two days, but that doesn't mean thats the most energy efficient thing to do. Sorry this doesn't really answer the question.
I did some experiments with my MacBook and it's safe to say that we'd be in the same ballpark with regards to the iMac...
I found that a shutdown/power-up cycle used the same amount of power as about 20 mins on Sleep.
Because the iMac uses 2 Watts when it's Plugged-in/Off and 3 Watts Sleeping then you could argue that leaving it Sleeping for up to 1 hour would be better than Plugged-in/Off.
But we are still talking very small amounts of power. To leave an iMac on standby for a month would draw around 2KwH, about 20p.
