The Lance J. Technoweb

With electricity quickly approaching $2 per watt per year, leaving a computer powered is a very expensive proposition. I found that I could power down my PC and save over $100 per year. Here's how to accurately estimate how much your computers cost to operate. Calculating Costs In order to calculate the cost, I first calculated my total cost per watt per year. With my recent electric bill in hand, I used the following formula: $ per Watt-Year = (bill's $amount) ÷ (bill's KWH) × 8.766 Given the following calculation, my electricity rate is a staggering $1.51 per watt-year: $30.29 ÷ 176 KWh × 8.766 = $1.51 With this watt-year value, it's easy to accurately estimate how much your computer (or clock radio or refrigerator) costs per year. Computer Cost per Year of Operation Mac Mini PowerBook iMac G4 iMac G5 eMac 700 WinPC On 19 [$25] 14 [$18] 38 [$50] 58 [$76] 91 [$120] 108 [$142] Sleep mode 2 2 6 4 7 55 Off 1 1 2 1 3 4 DVD View 24 22 53 74 107 115 DVD Rip 37 32 64 72 1...