I think this article unfairly demonizes plasma TVs. LCDs use just as much power in the off state.

SpenceMan01

Glad I game on PC. It's cheaper in more ways than one.

Gener4l_Ts0

Really, I thought electricity was free?

JorgeBurgos

wait... electronics use electricity?

NO EFFIN WAY!!

really now... who has their ps3 on 24/7?

on second thought, dont answer that.

glass

Interesting. I bought a plug in power meter a while back and used it on all my electronics. The PS3 was great from what I remember. By far the worst? The cable box, which sucked 60+W no matter whether it was on or off.

ChrisAshton84

I find it hard to believe a refrigerator uses about $50/yr. The ice-maker in a refrigerator uses more electricity than that.

Tank

@glass:
"really now... who has their ps3 on 24/7?"

I realize it was a tongue in cheek comment, but it makes you rethink that folding@home or all the other distributed computing apps that can make use of the PS3 or 360. Yeah, it's for a good cause, but you're literally paying for their research, and not to mention, I doubt having the console on 24x7 helps extend its lifetime any.

Hawk07

@Gener4l_Ts0: I wonder, because I can guarantee my gaming rig sucks down a lot more juice than the model they tested.

I think it is interesting that all the consoles use about the same amount of power on as off, even the Wii. It's just that the Wii isn't a completely a total energy hog in the first place like the other two. I'll definitely be switching OFF the PS3 when not in use.

detoys

This is very misleading. Modern game consoles are computers. Its like saying your computer uses a lot of power, even when you dont use it.

This article is /not/ talking about "standby" power leakage, its talking about on-but-idle useage. totally absurd thing.

plus, your xbox would overheat itself and die after the first month :P

TheDude06

quote: "Glad I game on PC. It's cheaper in more ways than one."

Obviously you've never taken a look at what kind of power your PC uses.

If you're on your laptop youre using A LOT less power than if you're using a desktop.

Most desktops run higher than 100 watts when in use. Most laptops run in the 30-50 watt range.

swiftouch

@SpenceMan01: The summary is just a bit unclear, it's not referencing plamsa WRT the off state, but the on state. The source actually tested the devices in several states.

What's truly amazing is that the PS3 used more power on idle than the plasma television used when it is actually in use!

detoys

I have found that my tesla coil, 'on while not in use', (ie I'm not standing in front of it), uses 1000 x more power than my refrigerator.

inboulder1

A new study by Australian consumer agency Choice shows that game consoles, especially the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, use significant power even when they're not in use. (emph. added)

WHOA WHOA WHOA

Hold on there!

" "Our tests found that leaving a Playstation 3 on while not in use would cost almost... five times more than it would take to run a refrigerator for the same yearly period," said the study... " (emph. added)

Okay, this is technically true, but this is highly misleading, as this is only true if you leave your game console on. If you turn your game console off, the PS3's "$248.28 a year" shrinks to "$2.33 a year". Ironically, this is slightly less than the Wii when turned off (IE standby mode). This is true for all of the consoles too: on, but not in use is not the same as off.

Thus, the lesson to be learned is to TURN OFF YOUR ELECTRONICS. On but not in use = on. Seriously. This is like leaving your car running but not going anywhere, then complaining that it uses up gas.

Their conclusion also notes this:
"Put devices like TVs, amplifiers, DVD and CD players, game consoles, speakers, and other devices into standby mode when not in use or, better still, turn them off at the wall - as our testing showed, some devices in standby mode can still consume moderate amounts of power."

For those who don't want to read the report results, the high power on standby items were speakers, desktop PCs, and cordless phones, in that order. If you're still worried about power waste at levels of less than 1 kWh per device, then by all means turn it off at the switch; you will save up to $1.50 to $5.00 a year per device.

Look at the full table for full reference.

Please look into your sources, and I think it's a little odd that you have a Reuters story, but the link goes to Yahoo.

Chef

maybe the consoles are fondling themselves when "off"? better use could have come of the money used to perform this research and article.

@Teufelhunden: i figured people knew appliances can use an amount of energy while off but still plugged in.

Collaboratory

@glass
The article isn't saying the ps3 is on, it is saying that it is using power when the ps3 is off.

@Tank
I would assume they are talking about a fridge which isn't opened or used for an entire year.

Teufelhunden

@TheDude06: Well, don't I feel like an idiot. Good call. Still, with as often as my kid leaves the Wii on, I'm glad that's the one that ends up being on. :)

detoys

I have a little device called a Kill-a-Watt. I bought it an an obscure tool shop here in Phoenix. It shows me current voltage, kWh used, current line frequency, etc. But its incredible how much a DirecTV receiver and a slingbox can draw in a month. More than 25 kWh this month! I.E. if you've a friend overseas who can't live without American TV, keep in mind you're not just renting an extra receiver!

I originally bought it to track a rather strange air conditioner I bought that sits on the floor yet vents through a casement window. It confirmed that the machine would cost me between $30 and $50 a month - but well worth it here in Phoenix.

But all those little devices add right up, and right quick. Travel a lot? Unplug as much as you can. Satellite and cable receivers - well, you need to weigh the inconvenience of having to call to have the receiver "re-authorized" vs. the power it draws. But for everything else? F'in kill it when you're gone. It's cheaper and more rapidly effective than that "carbon credit" crap for sale I see bandied about.

tekno-yanqui

It's still not clear from the article what the hell they mean by "turn off at the source". Does that mean unplug it? And of course the link in the article doesn't lead anywhere useful. Sigh - how useless.

Rhywun

Are there any numbers on the various Tivo models & how bad they are? I know they can be put into Standby mode manually, but I don't see myself remembering to do that every day as I rush out the door for work. Why can't I train these lazy cats to do something that would make me loads of money instead?

FubarGuy

Well, even if you ignore the article, the message does have a kernel of truth: added together, the devices in many homes do often use up a significant amount of power. If you add up all of the (standby) power used up by all of the various and sundry wall-warts, Tivos, cable boxes, TVs, stereos, DVD players, playstations, VCR players, etc., etc., it's pretty significant. My guess is that many homes are in the 100W-200+W range, 24x7, just for devices that aren't being used. Just one cable box (60W -- thanks, ChrisAshton84 :-) and one Tivo (say 40W -- I think it's rated at 60W) is 100+W, 24x7. Add in a few watts for each PC, monitor, powered USB hub, external disk drive, etc., in standby. Now, add in at least 2W for each wall-wart/clock/cellphone charger/etc., and a few more watts for each TV, stereo, etc. in standby, and you've got a lot of power being used. If you're one of those people who leave their desktop PC turned on, idle, you're probably sucking down at least another 100W (and possibly much more, if you have an older, less-power friendly PC). (And note that many notebooks are increasingly using more power -- 30W-50W is probably on the low end.)

Side note: wattmeters like the kill-a-watt may not be accurate below a certain power level (e.g., 20W). Read the manual to see if this applies to you (I do not know if the kill-a-watt is one of these). If you have a wattmeter that isn't accurate below a certain level, you have to measure "low-power" devices by measuring the power used by the low-power device plus a known device (like a 60W lamp).

aj_robins

as a plus 1, our systems are on a transformer, which also sucks extra electricity anytime it's turned on. I think our kids are pretty good about turning everything off, most of the time.

karlawithak

@glass: I do. My PS3 is running Folding@Home [folding.stanford.edu] when I'm not playing.

MercuryPDX

Even if all that is true, my desktop and its monitors will remain "on" until it dies. I can't stand having to turn my computer on and off. I use it so much that it has to always stay on or my productive and efficient procrastination station will become an unproductive and inefficient paper weight.

ewonk

[www.hardcoreware.net]

according to this when you PS3 is in stand by mode it costs twenty cents a month to keep it on. Soooo who's full of crap?

dalejrfanfreak

@dalejrfanfreak: Lifehacker. They misread the article and somehow concluded "leaving your console switched on" means "leaving your console on standby".

Sockatume

@Tank:
I just bought a new Kenmore refrigerator and the energy efficiency chart that comes standard on most new appliances says the average energy cost to run my new fridge is about $55 per year.

WraithSama

Unless there's a mechanical power switch that shuts off the device so far that it won't even power up with a remote control, there's a good chance the device is using electricity, even if it's "off" or on "standby".

Cable box was the worst offender I found here drawing 60 watts continuously (and it subsequently got sent back to Time Warner).

FWIW, a rough estimate of what these various devices cost to leave running 24/7, just take the watts and convert it to dollars. With the average electric rate being $0.10/kWh, then about another 11% in taxes and fees, this 1 watt = $1/year equation comes pretty close.

So, that cable box would have run me $60/year in electricity. Electric alarm clock used 8 watts, old DSL modem used 25 watts (new one uses 4 watts), microwave draws 5 watts, TVs were drawing about 20 watts continuously (when powered off/standby) and I could go on & on...

It may be an extra step to throw switch, but I'll gladly pocket the extra $200/year I'm saving because of it.

FLConsumer

Am I the only that found the title of this article really confusing?

It almost seems like its suggesting that:

A. Consoles that are shutdown are raising your electricity bills.

or

B. Shutdown your game consoles to raise your electricity bill.

..maybe I'm just tired.

Alicemagic

@Rhywun - By "turn off at the source", they probably mean to switch the power off at the wall socket. Choice is an Australian publication and all Australian wall sockets have an on/off switch (like a light switch) that allows you to turn off the power to that socket. In fact, having grown up in Australia, I was amazed when I traveled to the USA to learn that the sockets there don't have switches. The switches are handy in a number of situations, including this one...

DietHacks.com

So it turns out that purchasing electronic devices and plugging them into your wall socket actually means that they're pulling power from the house?

I don't know who does these studies, but I'd like to do a few of my own.

"Study finds that people who play lots of video games are better at them"
"Study finds that people who eat more than average tend to be overweight"
"Study finds that obviousness lost on 60% of americans"

sam1am

@Teufelhunden: the article is misleading. they arent referring to standby mode. theyre saying itll use that much juice if the unit is *on* but not being used. if you read the full article, its a bit clearer on that topic.

glass

@Hawk07:

it's funny you mention folding... i work at SCEA, and every night we keep all the PS3s on and running folding.

i always make comments about how yes, we might be helping cancer research, but were killing the earth in the process. and of course, pollution = higher cancer rates. so.... theres a few different ways to look at it. all point towards bad (IMHO).

glass

The only thing to do is unplug it- most electronic devices, even while off and unplugged "leak" power. Using Energy Star rated products lessens this by around 40%, but there is still leaking. I don't know if game consoles come in an Energy Star rating- but tvs, fridges, etc do.

azgirl

Honestly, turning things off completely off as in unplugging them as opposed to standby mode will only save you a grand total of maybe $20 max depending on how many gadgets you have.

Personally, I'll spend the $20 and still keep the functionality of being able to use my remote control to turn my tv on, thanks.

DashTheHand

@glass: You're not killing the planet. That energy is going to be produced, whether you use it or not. Remember, energy production is incredibly inefficient. A lot of energy is wasted, particularly at nighttime.

Shadowfire

Does anyone know how much power a DSL or Cable modem tends to draw when you leave it on? I've normally switched mine off when I go on a vacation, but maybe I need to consider it when I leave the house to go to work. After all, I can wait an extra minute for it to reconnect if it saves a decent amount of power.

theblackdog

@SpenceMan01: The term "plasma TV" has become somewhat generic, encompassing any sort of non-CRT television set.

@DashTheHand: Your TV is but one of many gadgets in your house that suck power when not in use. While your TV only uses $20 of electricity a year, there's your computer, your game console, your cellphone charger, your electric razor, and anything else that runs on a transformer "brick" and tends to stay plugged in. Making an effort to curtail these 'vampire' devices could make a significant dent in your electric bill - probably enough to run a refrigerator or similar appliance.

Steaming Pile

No really? I always unplug my computer after I turn it off because everyone knows it sucks energy even when it's shutdown. And have you seen the PS3 and Xbox 360? They're basically computers!

Angryrider

@DietHacks.com: Many American wall plugs are on a switch but far from every one. Only those expected to be used for table lamps you would want to switch on/off. Also, plugs are often "split" so of the two on the plate only one is switched.

Turning stuff off makes sense, but shutting off power strips or unplugging can be VERY hard on the circuitry in the device, especially in humid climates. The low-power draw keeps the electronics warm and dry. We had a vacation home in the Florida Keys and put a brand new TV in. When we left, fearing mainly power surges and storms, we unplugged nearly everything. A few months later, we came back and the new TV was completely dead. The K-Mart employee took it back in exchange for a new one and explained how it should be left plugged in for the above reasons. We never had another problem with it.

EvilConservative

Yeah, big secret. Turning things off uses less power.

We have a 2200 sq foot house. We pay about $800/year for power. More in summer months than in winter, but that's the annual total.

The biggest things we do to save power: We turn things off. We replaced all the light bulbs with CFs.

We also have a Tivo, running constantly. I also have a Linux server, running constantly. Without those, it'd drop even more. I've been afraid to plug the kill-a-watt into those.

If you have things like cell-phone chargers or laptop power supplies, unplug them when not in use.

The kill-a-watt told me that the charger for my cordless drill in the garage was pulling 10W, EVEN WHEN THE BATTERY WAS FULLY CHARGED.

It stays unplugged now, along with most of the wall warts in the house.

Pasketti

@Shadowfire: Actually, no it won't necessarily be produced. Electricity providers monitor the usage on the lines and turn generators on/off or increase/decrease their output as needed. I used to work for PECO, and there's a big room where they monitor the main lines in the power grid and tell the power plants to adjust their output appropriately. Sure, one person turning off their PS3 isn't going to cause the provider to decrease output, but it may if several thousand people do.

bonzombiekitty

@bonzombiekitty: Coal plants take about 18 hours to get up and running, and producing power. There's generally very little give and take between times of day when power is produced - that is, it's difficult to scale up or down the power creation. And since most of our power comes from coal (which it shouldn't, but it does), the end result is that a lot of power is generated, particularly at night, that is never used and is lost over the lines.

Shadowfire

I would love to be able to shut off my unused electronics... but it takes forever for the cable box to boot up and I need to access my PC remotely so I leave that on, and I have a slingbox so I need to leave my second cable box on for that...

Oh well. I'll stop complaining and pay up.

AD8BC

It doesn't matter if it's PS3 or your TV or your home stereo or whatever. Things like that should ideally be plugged into a surge protector with on/off switch; when not in use, switch the surge protector off. All those electronics continue to use power even when off, so it's best to cut off the power supply when you will not be using it for an extended amount of time, such as when you go to bed.

ww2db.com

So.....leaving a PS3 on all the time uses a lot of electricity - who would have guessed?

unpolloloco

No one seems to have pointed out that many devices that have a built-in clock will start using the backup battery when no power is fed. Therefore, if one switches off the power strip regularly, it will be only a matter of time when the backup battery becomes dead, and then each time the device is not connected to the mains, the clock (and perhaps some settings) will be reset. Of course, there are other devices that use a rechargable battery instead, in which case the above doesn't necessarily apply.

ICEBreaker

@Hawk07: It's a generally well-accepted premise in the @home community that the participants are also donating electricity in addition to computing power. Although I'm sure quite a few folks aren't aware how much!

@zibby: No. They're saying that if you leave the PS3 completely on then it draws the power. When you shut it off with the remote or the front switch, it goes into standby mode and only draws a negligable amount of power.

Although quite a few times I've found my playstation mysteriously turned on in the middle of the day; and God knows how long it's been sitting like that, fan running, etc. Best I can figure the cat got on the coffee table and stepped on the bluetooth remote.

Shadowman615

@Chef: @Chef:

Many thanks for that link, Chef -- I've always wondered what the power consumption of my PS3 & Wii actually were.

One of these days I've got to get one of those "kill-a-watt" thingys. :)

Southern

Jeebus, what a mess. I'm taking away that if I use the switch on the back of the PS3 to shut it off as opposed to the touch switch with the LED on the front, I'm not drawing the power they're talking about. Correct?

zibby

And for the love of god, fix the original post so that it clarifies what the truth actually is so you stop scaring people into thinking they're spending 250 a year for keeping their PS3 in standby.

DashTheHand

@ICEBreaker: You are completely correct on this.

Shutting down the power to the console will require you to reset the date/time/settings each time you switch it back on (assuming you're not turning it back on a minute later). Personally I'd rather not have to do that every single time I want to play GTA4.

As for cutting the power to the TVs when not in use, make sure you're not also cutting the power to any Tivo/DVR you've got plugged in too. You won't want to lose any shows you've got scheduled to record!

kchenx

@Steaming Pile: I was adding all the standby gadgets up to approximate $20. The PS3 only sucks about $2.50 in standby mode per year. An LCD TV is even less. 2 PCs and a laptop and the 2 LCD monitors (all turned off but still drawing the minor current) all added up to $5 per year according to my energy monitor I have on the outlet.

There are only a few other items that I keep plugged in that draw a minor current, like the microwave clock, clock radio, and a few LCD nightlights I have in the hallway/bathroom.

Like I said, $20 bucks a year to not run around and have to unplug and replug things when I want to use them is well worth the convenience.

DashTheHand

Hi all--my apologies for miswording this post. I've updated it to accurately reflect the results of the study, which are much less shocking than we originally thought--it refers to consoles that are ON but idle, versus shutdown. My apologies.

Gina Trapani

The original story must have been written by the plug-in-power meter association of America - trying to get us all to rush to Loews to begin monitoring.

aggiejaa

Misleading post... I was going to say that I notice no difference in my power bill since I bought an XBox 360 (was more of a computer gamer but GTA3 changed that), but I think everyone's already hit the nail on the head.

On top of that, why, with all the problems these consoles can have because of overheating, would you leave it on when not in use to begin with?

darksunfox

This article is full of Fail.

@Chef: A couple of things

the high power on standby items were speakers

Speakers?! Speakers don't draw any power unless they're plugged into an amp and creating sound. The amp itself might draw power, but that's not the same as "speakers."

If you're still worried about power waste at levels of less than 1 kWh per device, then by all means turn it off at the switch

I think you mean less than 1 Watt-hour. 1 kWh is CRAZY high for any device other than, say, an A/C unit.

happinessiseasy

@kchenx: That's not actually true. I unplug XBox 360 when it's not in use and I don;t have to reset the time when I plug it back in and turn it on. I assume this is because it's hooked up to the internet, and I figure the PS3 ought to be able to do the same thing. My old XBox, however, does forget the time when it's unplugged.

B

I don't understand the term "Wall Warts". Is this new?

failurate

@Shadowfire: That's not quite true. Power plants (at least coal fired plants that I know of) cycle out more power/burn more coal during known high demand times.
If everyone used less electricity, they would produce less/burn less coal.

failurate

@glass: Well, you can't cure cancer if there is no cancer to cure.

failurate

@swiftouch: ower draw at the wall on my PC when at load is over 340w. Idle its around 230w.

Rippleeffect

Does anyone know the damage WiiConnect24 does to your power bill if left on while the Wii is in Stand By?

jczarni

@failurate: No, it's not a new term. It refers to the unsightly, often black-colored, boxy plastic power supplies/chargers that you plug into the wall. Examples include cellphone chargers, ipod chargers, and power supplies for cordless phones, clocks, answering machines, etc., etc..

aj_robins

@Gina Trapani: Who's Captain Obvious? :p

Busybyeski

@jczarni: RTFA. Uh, the relevant part of which is here.

krom

Saving electricity by turning off your game console when it's not being used is not only a way to save on the electric bill, it's also a way to keep the unit from overheating (prime cause of the Xbox 360 Red Ring of Death). Wish I could get the kids to remember that.

But yeah, they showed that the power use of a standby mode of an Xbox 360 or Wii amounts to about a quarter a month. That's not a good enough reason IMO to do a hard power cutoff on them.

Oddly (and annoyingly) enough, the kids are terribly fond of the master switch on the back of the PS2 over the standby mode.

krom

If you read this headline from a newsreader that does not support the STRIKE-OUT feature (Hello, Google Reader), it's still very confusing. It reads "Shutdown Idle Game Consoles Raise Your Electricity Bill." Seriously, though: I ask the LH editors to please do the error-checking and logic-test-passing before hitting "Post". Thank you.

Posco Grubb

krom: doh

jczarni

@happinessiseasy: I'm just referring to the report, where both speaker sets used more power when "off" than all of the consoles, particularly the Harmon Kardon set. There's a high possibility that the power draw is from the power adapter itself, and not so much the speakers themselves. Extrapolating a bit, if you have high-end/high-power speakers, the adapter may be more of a power drainer even when the speakers are shut off.

Don't forget that PC speakers are a different beast than say, a floor speaker; PC speakers are self contained systems that power themselves(built-in amps), whereas floor speakers require the amp.

Also, I did mean kWh, which was measured weekly, also referring to the report. Sorry if I confused anybody.

@kchenx: Not necessarily true - modern consoles have rechargeable button cell batteries to keep the clock going in the event of a power outage (otherwise you'd be resetting the time every time you have a blackout/brownout). I've had my 360, PS3, and Wii all turned off at the strip for days to a week at a time, and have had no problems with losing the time on them. Also, having an Internet connection doesn't necessarily mean the console is contacting an NTP server to update time - after all, you have to input the time yourself when you start a console up for the very first time.

@jczarni: WiiConnect24 does more than damage your power bill; I had to disable it because it was making my Wii insanely hot in the back when it was "off", but not even downloading anything. I wonder if a recent firmware has fixed this, but I haven't turned WiiConnect24 back on since.

Chef

I have had quite a laugh picturing all these posters who so aggressively turn off random things throughout their homes and probably spend so much time every day running around turning things on and off to save a few dollars.

Seriously, just turn off only the major power draining electronics that are not used as often and leave those that you use regularly in standby. The Kill-a-watt is a great tool to identify those large offenders. As for me, I will not turn off my desktop machine nor my home server and will not unplug my gaming consoles - benefits easily outweigh the expense - plus they are all connected to UPS for protection. Fortunately for me, my projector uses very little power even in operating mode. And I save with ceiling fans, using minimal lighting, and redirecting the AC to only rooms that my wife and I frequent the most.

Xibalba

@Xibalba: Well, this all depends upon money, convenience, and environmental friendliness. If you have lots of money and don't care about the environment, sure, leave everything on. However, even ignoring the environment, some of us live in areas where electricity is expensive, and we don't have unlimited amounts of money.

I'm not saying that we should go to extremes to save energy, although that certainly wouldn't hurt. I am saying that we should be aware of how we're using electricity, instead of being mindlessly ignorant. If you want to leave your home server, desktop, etc. turned on 24x7, that's your decision.

I use a somewhat low-power PC as a home server (~70W), and I leave it powered 24x7, also. When I created our home server, I explicitly chose to use a lower-power PC (~70W), instead of a higher-power desktop PC (~120W-150+W, when I created it, although current desktops are probably now closer to ~100W, idle). I do put my (Windows) desktop in standby to save power, though, connected to a UPS. Standby (not hibernation) is very nice: less than ~5 sec to go into standby, and less than ~10 seconds to turn back on, right back to where I was. Power usage in standby is only a few watts, compared to the 100+W of an idle PC (not including the monitor, which can be another 60W-120+W when not in power save mode).

Convenience is important to me, too, but it's nice to be able to make informed choices that may (but, admittedly, not always) result in reduced power usage.

(Oh, and the UPS that I use sucks down another ~25W, and much more when recharging the battery. UPS units can be another forgotten, power-sucking item.)

aj_robins

@Xibalba: I went from $350-400/mo electric bills down to $50-70/mo electric bills. Difficult to say exactly how much was due to standby loads, but I can easily account for at least $200/year being due to standby loads. Seriously, a cable box running 24/7 does cost $60/year.

0.060kWh * 24 = 1.44kWh/day.
Electric here's 0.10/kWh + 11% taxes/fees, so $0.111/kWh.
1.44kW/day*$0.111=$0.15984/day.
$0.16*365 days=$58.40/year...just for a single cable box.

Florida Power & Light just announced a 16% rate hike today, so that cable box is going to end up costing $68/year to run.

Also, unless your AC system is designed to handle it, closing off vents isn't advisable. Decreased airflow over the evaporator coil's going to lead to higher head pressures on the compressor (and yes, that will cause the compressor to draw more amps).

@EvilConservative: Dehumidifiers -- use one. If you've got enough moisture in the air to cause problems with electronics, you've probably got other issues with your house as well. Mold & mildew thrive in unconditioned FL homes, esp. with modern building materials. All it takes is getting the humidity >60% and you're asking for trouble. Being out in the Keys, salt air's most likely the culprit.

FLConsumer

good responses - i understand your points. what it basically came down to for me was after testing numerous devices throughout my home with the kill-a-watt, i just did not find enough devices not in regular use to reduce power consumption significantly. now each person will need to make the decision on what is significant to them of course. and for me the effort of turning on and off things throughout the home to save even $2oo a year is just not worth it. it seems that you both are correct that i am fortunate to not be in an area with very prohibitive electricity costs or maybe i would approach things very differently.

i don't own a cable box to turn off as i primarily use very fast booting and low power consumption HTPCs (home theater pcs) and usually watch on my projector, which is also very low power consumption relatively speaking.

good point on the standby mode for the desktop - that will be a consideration although i an not a fan of having the hard disks turn on and off repeatedly every day - especially with important video editing material on them (even with redundant backup).

@FLConsumer: going from $400 per month to $70 per month is incredible - definitely not something i can obtain since my highest electricity bills are $200 per month

you are right about the AC - i was referring to just shutting off a few extra bedrooms and bathrooms to redirect important air flow to the remainder of the home. closing off too many vents (or even just a few in a smaller home) could result in compressor problems and/or freezing of the evaporator coil. both of which i have experienced for other reasons during my years living in central Texas.

Xibalba

@Xibalba: "... i an not a fan of having the hard disks turn on and off repeatedly every day - especially with important video editing material on them ... "

That's understandable -- if I had a business that depended upon a PC with multiple hard disks, I'd be tempted to leave it on all the time, too. Even with backups, recovering from a dead/dying disk would take time, which could affect income.

aj_robins

Another of the copied and pasted articles that adds t to the decline of Lifehacker.

A bit more quality and a little less quantity would go a long way.

markjhope