Four Ways to Reduce Computing Cost by $100 or More A Year

Computers are one of the larger power drains in many homes. To demonstrate this point, I used my Kill A Watt and measured my HP Pavilion Media Center, with all of the peripherals connected (printer, external hard drive, monitor) in a number of scenarios. When everything was all "fired up" and running, I was using 290 watts!

If I left everything running but wasn't actively working, power consumption dropped to 220 watts. Let's say I'm lazy and I happen to leave the computer on all day while I'm sleeping and at work (about 18 hours). Using the Home Power Saver Calculator, 18 hours of 220 watt consumption equates to $179 wasted every year (my electric rate is 12.5 cents/KwH).

Solution #1: Be Lazy

The obvious solution is Don't Be Lazy and turn things off when you are done. However, you can actually be lazy and still save power.

Simply make sure you use your computer's power saving features. You can set it up so after a certain period of idle time, your computer will go into 'sleep' mode. And if you are like me, you can manually place it in sleep mode when you are done for the night.

In sleep mode and with the printer, monitor, and external hard drive powered off, my system only consumes 8 watts. At 18 hours per day, that means I'd save $170.

Sleep mode has gotten a bad wrap in the past, but Windows has come a long way. In the old days, it was common for computers not to wake up, or to crash, or have just "weird" behavior and require a reboot after coming out of sleep. I've been a consistent sleep-mode user on a number of systems for the last 5 years and rarely see any problems.

To configure your Windows computer to automatically go to sleep after a set period of time, locate the Control Panel, and then Power Options. These settings are generally customizable, and you can separately control when the monitor is shut off and when the computer is placed into sleep.

OK, I know there are some readers thinking 8 watts is still a lot of power to waste for those 18 hours not in use. You are right - it is still better to totally shut down if possible.

Solution #2: Optimize Your Monitor

Did you know that cranking up brightness and contrast causes your monitor to use more electricity? By the way, this is even more true for plasma tv's...food for thought.

For example, CNET has compared the power efficiency of numerous monitors. Using Energy Star 5.0 Display Specifications as a standard, they compared power consumption of the monitors at the 5.0 luminance level, minimum brightness, and full brightness. Assuming the Energy Star 5.0 level is a typical level consumers use, you may save anywhere from a watt to 12+ watts by simply dialing down the brightness to the Energy Star 5.0 level. And you can save more by dimming further.

I still use an old CRT monitor because I am an amateur photographer, and have found my old $300 CRT produces as good images as you can get on $1000 LCD monitors. With CRT's, the differential between high and low brightness is not quite as much as LCD's, but you still may be able to save a couple of watts.

Solution #3: Buy a New Monitor

OK, I just said that I'm a holdout using an old CRT monitor. My little old 17 inch CRT monitor consumes as much as 102 watts when displaying a primarily white web page, and 92 watts when displaying a primarily black page, like my blog (yes - I'm saving you money by using a black background).

I have come to the conclusion that I'm going to replace my monitor with an LCD later this year. I decided that my amateur-ness in photography isn't enough to justify my power consumption. I can get a bigger monitor that uses 75 less watts on average. At 6 hours per day "on", that is $22 power savings per year. If my monitor lives 8 years, that will be a $176 savings assuming my power rates never go up (yeah, right). That means the bigger LCD monitor will nearly pay for itself. And I'll donate my old monitor to avoid adding to the landfills.

If you're in the market for an LCD monitor, the CNET analysis mentioned above clearly demonstrated the huge variance that exists between monitor's power consumption. 24 inch LCD's could use as much as 71 watts or as little as 21 watts at the Energy Start 5.0 luminance levels. It pays to shop around and consider energy efficiency.

Solution #4: Power Off Peripherals

OK, this falls into the 'don't be lazy, but you can actually be lazy if you want to' category. You can manually power off your printers, external drives, and monitor if you want to. Or you can purchase a Smart Strip
or Belkin Energy Saving Strip ($25-$35) that will detect when your computer goes into sleep mode and automatically power off the peripherals. Either way, you'll be saving 25 to 35 watts or more, and both devices function as a surge suppressor as well.

At my electric rate, that means a smart strip would pay for itself in a year, as compared to leaving things turned on. Even if I manually power everything off, my devices (excluding the computer) continue to draw 7 watts. The Smart Strip shuts off the outlets that these devices connect to, meaning that 7 watts is history. The implication here is that if I'm not lazy, the Smart Strip can still pay for itself in 3.5 years.

There are actually a number of other ways in which you can reduce your computing costs. For example, if you are in the market to replace a hard drive, you might opt for an efficient one such as the Western Digital Caviar Green hard drive. Again, it pays to search for efficient products. And be sure to use the Home Power Saver Calculator to see if any extra costs will be worth it in the long run!