A new study by the consumer group choice has found that running a computer or games console in your home can be more expensive to run than other major whitegood appliances. They compared a number of computer products and games consoles to determine the costs of running such systems for a year in Australia. Interestingly the Playstation 3 came out as the most expensive to run with a total cost of $248.28 per year (@ 15c/kwh) if it was left on and idle.
Many homes these days have computers, printers, scanners, wireless network devices, speakers, monitors, game consoles and even home networks. All of these devices are pushing up energy bills and unfortunately, this is not something that can be easily quantified until the actual bill arrives in the mail. Many people think that because these devices are small they don't use much power but many small devices chew up kilowatts - some are just more obvious like a toaster or a heater.
Computers - How to Save
Comparing the common IT related items found in households today, they found that a Desktop Pc would cost $130.23 (868.18kwh) annually if left on. A iMac would cost considerably less at $80.05 (533.68kwh) and a Laptop (MacBook Pro) understandably comes in much cheaper at only $28.63 (190.84kwh). The reasoning here then is that replacing your desktop with a laptop will save you around $100 a year if you leave the device on - quite a saving. Many people on solar power have already discovered this fact and almost invariably if you go to someone's house with off-the-grid solar, they will have a notebook, not a desktop.
How to "Monitor" your Power Use
Other interesting facts found in the article are that replacing your old crt (cathode-ray tube) monitor with an lcd monitor would save you around $50 a year. The findings were that for a crt monitor it would cost $95.75 (638.34kwh) and an lcd only $43.13 (287.56kwh) if they were left on for the year. This is one area where technological advances are producing energy saving devices. Interestingly though a new 42" plasma tv would draw a large amount of power if left on for the year with a cost of $232.10 (1547.37kwh) - they do not list the power usage for an LCD (I would suggest it would be cheaper to run), but they do show that a CRT TV (not sure of the size) is actually cheaper than the plasma.
Not all Games Console are the Same!
Over in the console department, the main consoles in order from cheapest to most expensive to run per year are: Nintendo Wii which would cost only $23.26 if left on for the year, It then jumps up markedly to the Microsoft Xbox 360 at $184.32 per year and then to the Sony Playstation 3 at $248.28 per year. Now most games console users are loyal to certain brands and simple things like cost to run don't even come into it. If however you are off-the-grid solar or simply need to tighten the purse strings due to cost of living, it might give a great case for going for the Nintendo Wii. At less than 1/10 of the electricity cost of the Playstation 3 it presents as an obvious choice for energy savers.
Where to from here?
I don't think I have ever seen an energy rating sticker on a computer or console and this star rating for energy efficiency that is used in Australia doesn't even seem to apply to these devices. Maybe it is time for some sort of labelling to occur on these devices to allow consumers to make energy efficient choices as they can now with whitegoods and other household appliances. This study though will allow you to make a more informed choice if energy efficiency is something that is important to you.
The choice study referenced in this article can be found here: http://www.choice.com.au/viewArticle.aspx?id=106346&catId=100245&tid=100008&p=1&title=Computers'+energy+costs