Electricity bill [was: Re: Leaving a Computer Running ?]

[Anthony Atkielski]

markzero writes:

m> Actually, I've found that five machines, each with two disks, onboard
m> graphics and sound, an average 700mhz P3 with a 250w power supply
m> haven't really made a dent on my electricity bill.

My bills have been unusually high lately and it prompted me to do some
calculation to see if the computers were responsible for the bills.  I
have three computers running continuously, but the calculations showed
that they still don't make much of a dent in my electricity bill, even
in my small apartment.  The total is about 500 kwh per month, out of
some 1400 kwh.  I don't know where the rest is going, but I suspect that
an aging electric water heater is consuming more than all the computer
equipment combined.  There's no other explanation (I run A/C in summer
which ups the bill considerably, but that doesn't apply at this time of
year).

Since the computers are necessary for both work and play, I consider
running them to be electricity wisely used.  I do turn the monitors off
when I'm not home, but since they are all flat panels now, that
represents only a trivial amount of electricity.

-- 
Anthony