on the road
Über Member
Oh no, a wannabe environmental campaignerSo it's okay to waste electricity if you're not paying for it? Oh, I hadn't fully realised that part of the "trying to reduce our carbon footprint/wastage" idea.
PCs left on in the office
- Thread starter Yellow Fang
- Start date
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HJ
Cycling in Scotland
- Location
- Auld Reekie
on the road
Über Member
SavageHoutkop
Veteran
- Location
- South Manchester-ish
Someone, somewhere, is paying for the electric. If he's in a university, then it's you and me bud, out of our taxes.
Or, are you just trolling?
http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2008/06/magical-thinking.htmlSo it's okay to waste electricity if you're not paying for it? Oh, I hadn't fully realised that part of the "trying to reduce our carbon footprint/wastage" idea.
Assuming relatively modern hardware and OS, we're talking about 10-15 watts for an idle PC with the monitor in power-saving mode. Is that really the biggest energy waste within your power to eliminate (or even of the same order of magnitude as the biggest energy waste you can do something about)?
HJ
Cycling in Scotland
- Location
- Auld Reekie
He is just an ignorant troll.
on the road
Über Member
I regularly leave my work PC on for one night each week.
When I do so, I turn off the monitor and leave a note on my desk saying "computer left on".
Reason? I was advised about this by the IT people. The company server initiates the weekly virus check on all connected PCs during that night, if they are left on. Otherwise, it postpones the scan until the next time the PC is booted up, this usually means your PC runs very slowly for a few hours the following morning.
But some colleagues leave their PCs on all the time. I don't think this is good practice, but I don't interfere.
When I do so, I turn off the monitor and leave a note on my desk saying "computer left on".
Reason? I was advised about this by the IT people. The company server initiates the weekly virus check on all connected PCs during that night, if they are left on. Otherwise, it postpones the scan until the next time the PC is booted up, this usually means your PC runs very slowly for a few hours the following morning.
But some colleagues leave their PCs on all the time. I don't think this is good practice, but I don't interfere.
Even if the PC is shut down by Windows, the +5V standby line is still live in the PSU so will take about 5-10W of power when "off"
I like the article coruskate linked to, my brother-in-law insists he's saving £££'s a year by unplugging the TV that has a power consumption of <1W
I like the article coruskate linked to, my brother-in-law insists he's saving £££'s a year by unplugging the TV that has a power consumption of <1W
OP
OP
Yellow Fang
Legendary Member
- Location
- Reading
According to my smart meter, my old home PC uses about 45W and the flat screen monitor, another 17W. Not much in the grand scheme of things, but still worth switching off. If I leave the PC idle, eventually it goes into hibernation mode and the screen goes black, but that only seems to save a couple of Watts at most. The screen going dark seems more about saving the screen than saving energy. My laptop is more economical; it only seems to use about 10W.
I tend to agree it's probably not worth worrying too much about whether some entertainment equipment is in standby mode or switched off in the plug, although they vary. My hi-fi amp appears to use 38W when switched on. However, the difference between my hi-fi amp switched off (but with red LED showing) and unplugged is only 4W.
I tend to agree it's probably not worth worrying too much about whether some entertainment equipment is in standby mode or switched off in the plug, although they vary. My hi-fi amp appears to use 38W when switched on. However, the difference between my hi-fi amp switched off (but with red LED showing) and unplugged is only 4W.
gaz
Cycle Camera TV
- Location
- South Croydon
Depends how you computers are set up.
At my place of work most users will work on a delivered desktop. Which means they can log onto any computer connected to the domain and they have everything they need (Unless they need specific applications which only work on the local machine). This also means if they connect from outside the network, their PC doesn't need to be on as no files are stored on it.
BUT as i'm in the IT department and i need to use mostly applications which only run on the local environment, i could only work from home if my PC is on. As i would have to remote to it rather than a server.
At my place of work most users will work on a delivered desktop. Which means they can log onto any computer connected to the domain and they have everything they need (Unless they need specific applications which only work on the local machine). This also means if they connect from outside the network, their PC doesn't need to be on as no files are stored on it.
BUT as i'm in the IT department and i need to use mostly applications which only run on the local environment, i could only work from home if my PC is on. As i would have to remote to it rather than a server.
- Location
- The TerrorVortex
If your office is like mine a few jobs ago, when your shift starts at 0800 you're expected to be logged into the phone, with the PC up and all applications (CRM, Remote Access, terminal services, the lot) up and running.
Doing this lot from cold took about 15 mins, and I didn't get paid until my shift started at 0800.
So, I could turn my PC off each night and save Fujitsu a few pence in power, or I could have an extra 15 minutes at home.
Too flamin' right I left the PC on.
Doing this lot from cold took about 15 mins, and I didn't get paid until my shift started at 0800.
So, I could turn my PC off each night and save Fujitsu a few pence in power, or I could have an extra 15 minutes at home.
Too flamin' right I left the PC on.
steve30
Veteran
- Location
- Rotherham, South Yorkshire
I have been told for my latest job, that people often leave things switched on, such as projectors, lights, radios and computers, and that when we see something that has been left on, we should switch it off to save electricity.
The exception to this is the computers, which we should not touch. The reason given was that people may leave work open on them. This is true as I mostly work in schools, but it is very unlikely that anyone would use VNC or similar with them. Teaching staff for example, usually have their own laptops and everyone else probably couldn't give a toss about the computers. The other reason for not touching them that i can think of, is that the IT department may perform remote updates at a certain time which requires all the machines to be switched on.
But in the building I was in most recently, the computers were usually switched off by the time I left anyway. It was just the monitors that were left in standby mode. I would rather not touch those, as I know what teaching staff are like when it comes to devices which have standby modes
.
The exception to this is the computers, which we should not touch. The reason given was that people may leave work open on them. This is true as I mostly work in schools, but it is very unlikely that anyone would use VNC or similar with them. Teaching staff for example, usually have their own laptops and everyone else probably couldn't give a toss about the computers. The other reason for not touching them that i can think of, is that the IT department may perform remote updates at a certain time which requires all the machines to be switched on.
But in the building I was in most recently, the computers were usually switched off by the time I left anyway. It was just the monitors that were left in standby mode. I would rather not touch those, as I know what teaching staff are like when it comes to devices which have standby modes
.
