Power consumption

My power consumption the last year(s) has been rather high so i bought an energy-meter to see where all the kwh goes and if possible save about 2000 - 3000 kwh per year. So far i measured:

fridge+freezer = 486 kwh per year (1.33 kwh/day)
my computers = 825 kwh per year (2.5 kwh/day, portable + desktop)
gf's computer = ? (haven't had the time yet)
tv+dvd+video etc = ? (haven't had the time yet, a64 dualcore)

I guess my total power consumption for computers only could land at 1200 - 1500 kwh per year. I can't quit computing but maybe it's time to scrap at least one desktop and/or replace it with a notebook.

Anyone else annoyed over their power bills ?

 

nope

My rent includes all the utilities including the electricity. I don't care whatever kwh/day I am consuming...


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If my rent package hovered at $50K a year, electricity better be included.

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I wouldn't scrap anything, just lessen the parasitic power consumption.

Turn things off.

 

I figured once that my desktop computer (with a 350 watt PSU) cost about $4 a month figuring it is on 12 hours a day. That was a few years ago, and I am not so sure I did the math right.

 

If your able to, turn stuff off. That'll save a ton of power. Plus, don't forget to unplug it, because most of your power that you're using is being drained though things that are plugged into the wall. In short, stuff plugged in still sucks energy.

 

Or better yet, plug everything into a surge protector and switch it off at night.

 

I pay about $1250 per year in power bills (household power only not heating). I checked the average power consumption for my size of living and it's half of what i use so i should be able to shave my power bills.

 

$1250 isn't bad at all.

Of course, up in Sweden you probably don't need central air conditioning like I do in southern cal.

How about the kitchen. Do you use gas or elec?

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Yeah i know $1250 isn't really that bad my brother pays $5000 a year. It's only because my power bills used to be around $500 - $600 a year that i noticed it.

I have:

- central air conditioning with a heating battery (only heat the air not cool it)
- water carried central heating for the radiators
- regular household power, this is what i think is to high

Air cooling isn't really necessary up here. No gas at all only electrical in the kitchen. I will keep on measuring and see.

 

how do i work out how many KW a day my laptop consumes?

The power adapter is 90 watts how many KW/h is that - id like to know what the absolute maximum my laptop would cost if it was left on under full load

 

cost = kw x time left on (hours) x cost per kwh (in the UK about £0.10)
= 0.35 x 12 x 30 x0.10 = £12.60 a month approx in the UK
if cost per kwh is around 12c now in the US = 0.35 x 12 x30 x0.12 = $15.12 a month

it is unlikely that your laptop would use 90watts continuously... but just for an example if it did use 90 watts continuously to find the number of kwh just multiply by the number of hours used in the day... which will give you the kwh per day.
to find the actualy power usage buy a power/wattage meter like the OP
i think the cost per kwh in the US is around 12c? if so it would cost you about 1c an hour to run... nothin really

 

I'm in U.k but oh right and yeah, ive got a plug that shows how many watts is been used, under heavy benchmarking *3Dmark06* it uses 64.3 watts ideling uses 13

 

haha itd cost 14p if i left it benchmarking for 4 hours a day for a week

 

Well, 90 watts per hour times 24 hours times 365 days = 788.4 kilowatts per year (assuming it's 1000 W per KW, not 1024). Which is a decent amount, but that's an absolute maximum. No idea what that translates to in currency. If it's 12 cents like jisaac said, that's $94.61 per year. Per month it's 65.7 KW or $7.88.

 

My Dell E6400 is using 22.5W at the mains socket as I type this. That would be about 100kWH per year based on 12 hours per day operation. I have a desktop, which is rarely used. I have been known to turn it on to supplement the room heating during cold weather.

John

 

I've been thinking of trying my own "hybrid" graphics solution on my desktop by adding a weaker graphics card to my secondary pcie port and disabling the 8800gts and only enable it when gaming. The 8800gts would be connected to my tft dvi-port and the weaker graphics card to the vga-port. Would be fun if it worked.