Raw Processing Powah! vs The Environment

[0iD]

Most of us here have at least one PC, usually more as polls have indicated in the past (and overclocked = greater power consumption), but do we really need to use all this power? I mean, look at our lifestyle, most have big TV's, powerful HiFi systems, a myriad of games consoles, mobile phones, PDA's, portable music and video players, not to mention kitchen appliances & other household gadgetry. Does this awesome array of power guzzling machinery concern you somewhat? Who'd have thought a couple of years ago that we'd see 1kW PSU's for PC's?

I like my gadgets, same as the next chap, silly things like bizarre USB nic-nacs, lava lamps, motion sensitive light switches, digital home theatre setups, remote controlled micro battle tanks etc. Plus all the PC's in the house, laptops, file servers & NAS backup devices. And suddenly the penny drops as to why the leccy bill is becoming a tad worrying these days. I am now officially concerned that I use waaaay too much electricity.

Time to start cutting back, not necessarily for the environment, that would take a whole lot of people doing the same & it sort of goes against the HeXus digital lifestyle ethos. But can we use/should we not use all this technology to save more power rather than depleting already dwindling reserves of fuel?

[MadduckUK]

ok... you first

[0iD]

I have no problem with that, the kids PC's go first, simple

[MadduckUK]

nono. YOU first i want to see you posting off a solar powered PDA or something by the end of the week

[0iD]

meh, we have solar powered garden lights
And the idea was to use the iGreen PSU & intel speedstep tecnology to cut the amount of powah my Pc uses........... then I overclocked it....

[iranu]

Just make sure that you turn things off when you are not using them. I saw a Mythbusters episode where they proved that turning the light off everytime you left a room would save you money even if you were out of the room for 10 seconds.

Anyway I see overclocking as a way to extend a processors life therefore you can put off the next upgrade saving money and the environmental cost of a new chip/motherboard.

[dave87]

Just make sure that you turn things off when you are not using them. I saw a Mythbusters episode where they proved that turning the light off everytime you left a room would save you money even if you were out of the room for 10 seconds.

But then you go through more lightbulbs no? = greater cost to the environment?

[Butcher]

Just make sure that you turn things off when you are not using them. I saw a Mythbusters episode where they proved that turning the light off everytime you left a room would save you money even if you were out of the room for 10 seconds.

Energy saving bulbs or not?

[Alex]

I'm sure there are ways that technology could help save money and the environment. For example, there was this power block thing that you plugged your PC, printer, screen, speakers etc into, and when your PC was swicthed off it cut the power to the other devices, taking them off instead of onto standby, thus reducing power consumption. As soon as you turn your PC on it turns all the other devices on. Simple but effective, especially if you turn your PC off when not in use.

Another thing would be remote controlled power swicthes - I know it sounds incredibly lazy but then again, how many people turn off their TVs at the power socket, instead of leaving them on standby? Or DVD players, amplifiers, consoles etc? If your Logitech Harmony remote (google it, then get one, they're brilliant) could turn off the power at the source and take all your stuff our of standby and into 'proper off', that again would save you quite a bit of money.

Energy saving lightbulbs are becoming cleverer, you can now get dimmable ones, energy saving spotlights etc, and energy saving lightbulbs in the long term will save you money. Hang your clothes out to dry instead of using a tumble dryer, wash your clothes on a cooler cycle, etc etc. It's not that hard to put some extra insulation in your loft, and there are loads of other ways you can save electricity if you want. Just need to get off your arse and do it - the only problem is that now I'm a hypocrite 'cause I haven't done much of the above yet either!

[Sinizter]

I now use a mac laptop as my downloader machine. 60W max as opposed to how much a desktop would pull. On average it has to be lower than having a 2nd desktop.

I currently use my primary laptop as the desktop by plugging into the monitor, but thats likely to change at some point.

I also turn off all the switches at the socket when I leave my house so that DC adapters are not sucking down juice doing nothing. Fair enough its very little, but might as well turn it off as it doesnt take much effort.

I recycle as much as I can.

But thats about it. I am not going to buy a half-sized powerless car or some such. And I will get my large LCD or plasma TV. Again will turn it off completely when not in use, but I am definitely getting one.

[tiggerai]

I've just had this quarters electricity bill... it's huge!

Now, I try and turn lights off when I'm not using them, and trying to use the clothes horse instead of the tumbler when I can. I'm putting it down to Housemate Number 1 who used to leave his PC on when he was out - sometimes I assume for days at a time. (mine only stays on when I'm downloading, which is overnight, once a week).

So, in the interests of being able to afford to live, I'm making a special effort tonight to make sure all unused things are switched off/ unplugged when not in use.

The good news is that I've used under half the gas I usually do as the heating ahs been switched off since april. boiler goes on 2x a day for hot water, and the time will be reduced tonight as an experiment.

[chicken]

Just make sure that you turn things off when you are not using them. I saw a Mythbusters episode where they proved that turning the light off everytime you left a room would save you money even if you were out of the room for 10 seconds.

This would only work with ordinary bulbs, and as has been said, would make them blow faster. Energy Saving and tube-lights take more energy starting than running and so have a trade-off whereby it isn't worth turning them off if you will be back in the room within a short space of time.

[Lanky123]

Energy saving bulbs dont take a huge amount of power to start up. Switching off for 10 seconds is pushing where its worth bothering but turning a light off where reasonable will help (more like 10 minutes for example).

Personally Id rather electricity was made from renewable sources in the first place. I dont have a problem with windfarms being built near my house - I think they look quite nice. I dont know much about nuclear power but i might be a bit nervous about that being built on my front garden.

[Whiternoise]

nono. YOU first i want to see you posting off a solar powered PDA or something by the end of the week

I can post from my DS using a solar charger if you want?

I guess my main cutback has been batteries and charging things - i almost always charge things via my pc or with my solio (www.solio.com/v2).

@Dave87 - if you're using energy saving bulbs, then you're going to be using less bulbs than normal anyway and to be honest, one bulb every few years or so is pretty good.

[beanbandit]

I'm sure there are ways that technology could help save money and the environment. For example, there was this power block thing that you plugged your PC, printer, screen, speakers etc into, and when your PC was swicthed off it cut the power to the other devices, taking them off instead of onto standby, thus reducing power consumption. As soon as you turn your PC on it turns all the other devices on. Simple but effective, especially if you turn your PC off when not in use.

It may be simple and effective, but i wouldn't call it "Green" The manufacturing process and the use off all that plastic is not friendly to the environment. Seeing as you probably had a single block already, it would be better for your pocket just to turn the switch to off and the plug. You may have to crawl on the floor to do it, but so what

Another thing would be remote controlled power swicthes - I know it sounds incredibly lazy but then again, how many people turn off their TVs at the power socket, instead of leaving them on standby? Or DVD players, amplifiers, consoles etc? If your Logitech Harmony remote (google it, then get one, they're brilliant) could turn off the power at the source and take all your stuff our of standby and into 'proper off', that again would save you quite a bit of money.

Going that route is fine, but you forget that the remote switch will still be using power, admittedly its not a lot, to keep the sensor circuitry working.

If people really want to see how much power they are using, Maplin do a measuring device that will tell you how many watts an appliance is drawing, it quite fun going around and seeing what stuff is using. Leaving my tv on standby* uses 2w, same as my dvd player, xbox 360 draws 21w (i think that was correct) when its not being used. From using one of these i've now started to turn my consoles off at the mains.

* I never use standby anyway, only tried to see what the real cost was.

[Kezzer]

There's new regulations at my work to put all computers on standby overnight, which is a fair deal seeing as though there's hundreds and hundreds of servers running 24/7 guzzling lots of juice.