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Step 7Total Power Saving Results
Assuming I had left my computer on 24/7/365 I would have used around 179 KWh in a month. That would have cost me over $200 annually on my power bill.
Now assuming I use my computer for 3 hours a day and let it hibernate the rest of the time while leaving the wireless bridge on all the time, this system will use approximately 28 KWh per month costing me only $34 annually on my power bill over the year*. This means my new wireless router ($60) and power strip ($50) pay for themselves in a little over half a year. In one year, this system will have reduced my carbon emissions by 234 lbs! That's my weight in carbon!!! If you have more than one computer that you leave on all the time, using this solution can double or triple your savings.
With this solution I can still rest easy at night knowing all my important files are safely backed up and virus free. I can also access my computer remotely any time I need to. This proves that going green does not have to be a hassle and can save you some cash!
In the future you can put that money you saved on your power bill toward something nice such as upgrading your CRT to an LCD or upgrading your computer to a laptop - BOTH OF WHICH SAVE EVEN MORE POWER!! WOHOO!!!
*I left my "access point" router out of this calculation since it had always been on before and will always be on now.
Now assuming I use my computer for 3 hours a day and let it hibernate the rest of the time while leaving the wireless bridge on all the time, this system will use approximately 28 KWh per month costing me only $34 annually on my power bill over the year*. This means my new wireless router ($60) and power strip ($50) pay for themselves in a little over half a year. In one year, this system will have reduced my carbon emissions by 234 lbs! That's my weight in carbon!!! If you have more than one computer that you leave on all the time, using this solution can double or triple your savings.
With this solution I can still rest easy at night knowing all my important files are safely backed up and virus free. I can also access my computer remotely any time I need to. This proves that going green does not have to be a hassle and can save you some cash!
In the future you can put that money you saved on your power bill toward something nice such as upgrading your CRT to an LCD or upgrading your computer to a laptop - BOTH OF WHICH SAVE EVEN MORE POWER!! WOHOO!!!
*I left my "access point" router out of this calculation since it had always been on before and will always be on now.
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I used the calculator on http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/
I'm not sure exactly how much my computer uses per hour but it has a 450 watt power source and quite a few internal devices like two CD/DVD drives and a raid array so I am assuming it is on the high side of things. For that reason I selected the "240(computer + 17" CRT)" running for 24 hours a day for 31 days a month on the calculator. That added up to 179 kwh per month costing $17.6 per month or $211 per year. I then compared that to using my computer for 3 hours a day which cost $26 per year plus an estimated $8 per year for running the router 24/7 (assuming it uses about 8 watts per hour).
$211-26-8=$177 saved in a year.
Let me know if that doesn't sound right an I will adjust it accordingly.