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Cost of Electricity -

2005-07-04 22:58:57.70597+00 by ziffle 3 comments

Does anyone know what the cost is to leave a computer running (without monitor) for 30 days? I amspeaking of the cost of the electricity.

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comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):

#Comment Re: made: 2005-07-04 23:12:57.962774+00 by: Dan Lyke

Obviously depends on the computer and your local power costs. Let's try two:

  1. Something like a Via Eden[Wiki] with a moderately efficient but desktop sized hard drive, we'll round up to 25 watts.
  2. An old Pentium something with a graphics card that was over-powered at the time, say 300 watts.

I think I pay about $.13/kilowatt hour, 24 hours in a day, so the cost per kilowatt 30 days is $.13*24*30, or $93.60. A kilowatt is a thousand watts, so that's the cost of running 10 100 watt bulbs for a month.

The first example would be .025 * $93.60, or $2.34, the second would be .3 * $93.60, or just over $28.

I think you folks in the Tennessee Valley pay closer to $.07/kW/hr, so you're talking more like a buck and a quarter, and fifteen bucks, respectively.

Rather amazing how fast replacing that old hardware with something newer and more efficient is.

#Comment Re: made: 2005-07-05 11:36:48.572666+00 by: meuon

I use two 19" Viewsonic PS790 monitors.. I both have them in power savings mode (auto-standby) and turn them off at night. They use far more juice then the 2ghz AMD HP Pavillion they are attached to. And they put out more heat, a secondary cost in the summer. I'd use flatscreens more, but I don't see colors well, and do it less well on lcd panels. Pre-other people living in Casa Meuon, my electricity bills were typically 40-50/mth.. and I estimated that 50% of that was my computer being on 24/7. (I seldom ran the AC or much lights). I'm pushing over 100 now.. Lou runs her PC 24/7 with a flatscreen, more laundry, dishes, lights.. etc.. etc..

#Comment Re: made: 2005-07-05 19:46:41.640074+00 by: radix

the tool you need to be exact is 'clamp-on ammeter'. You should be able to get one at the hardware store. Your system should be relatively stable in amps drawn after the boot sequence is done. Once you know the amps it is drawing, it is simple algebra to calculate watts drawn in a month. However, utilities tend to bill on sliding scale, so your price per kilowatt might go up as you draw power faster.

radix