Learn How To Save A Dollar A Day
I just heard this one on the radio and after finding the news story on the Internet, I had to pass it on.
Wynn Brower, 10, of Monroe County in Indiana, did a science project to determine the cost savings if computers were turned off at night. Using his family’s computers as the basis for his calculation, he determined that $1.00 per day could be saved if the computers were turned off at night. He then extrapolated this figure over the Monroe County’s 550 computers (his dad works in the county’s technical services department) and determined that the savings would be $25,000 per year. Read the full story…
It’s funny that I heard this story today. I have been leaving my computers on for years, but for some reason, I decided to turn them off last night. I not only saved some money, I also discovered that it was a lot quieter without all of the fans and drives going.
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Turning off the computer with Microsoft’s “shutdown” does not turn off the power supply which draws power even when it’s off. Also, all those little black boxes plugged into the outlet are never turned off. The only way to really save is to turn off an outlet strip that everything (including your modem, router, printer, scanner, etc.) is plugged into.
On an ATX motherboard, shutdown does turn off most of the power. There is still enough power to detect a wakeup command coming across the NIC…which is why you can see the NIC light still on on some computers, even if the computer has been shutdown (not turned off with the switch on the back of the power supply).
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATX
To clarify, Al does have a good point. What you should do is put all of the devices that you plan on turning off overnight on one power strip. You will still need to go through the proper shutdown process, but once that is done, you can then turn off the power strip. This will make sure that those devices draw 0% power overnight.
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That’s a good idea, with this technique millions of dollars could de saved and earned every month if all Americans decide to turn off computers at night.
Thanks for your comment, Edwin. I believe so. I know there are screen savers that will shutdown the machine, but turning it off is another thing. Even with the ATX logical switch, the power is still on. Maybe the solution is as simple as having a timer on the power strip. This way, between 11pm and 7am, the power is completely cut by the timer. Just an idea.
As far as I am aware the vast majority of people all over the world already shuts down their computers when they are not in use. Most larger companies even have it as a firm rule for the sake of pushed updates.
The only people that actually leave the computer on at night are the kind of people like me, who reads this and goes “Wow, only a dollar? Awesome, I can stop turning my computer off!”