[sarasmom]

LOL!
I try to tell people I know, that although I am certainly not an energy "expert", certain appliances draw more power than others.
Although I have a bit of an advantage, since I have been tasked for over a decade in calculating the minimum amount of electricity required to safely display the desired equipment at trade shows (talk about high electric bills!).
Easy test for people who actually know where their meter is spinning:
Turn everything with an "off" button Off.
Go to the meter and watch it spin slowly....that's still money.
That's just your refrigerator and idle draws of clocks and timers that are always on, since they are plugged into the "circuit".
Start turning on appliances one at a time, lighting, water heater, air conditioner etc, and watch the dial spin ever faster.
Now this is where we get to the fun part...turn on the fun stuff!
Fire up that computer system and leave it running 24/7!
The monitor still draws the same amount of current whether or not you have the "screen saver" set to blank.
The noise your PC makes when processing data does not draw any more current than when it sits at idle.
It never ceases to amaze me how many people never power off their "toys", when they are finished playing with them.
That $5.99 surge protector/power strip, just blows itself up, if it gets a sudden overload of undemanded electrical supply, before it blows up your more expensive appliances.
Would you leave your car running on idle 24/7 and think yourself prudently "saving start-up energy consumption"?
Myself, I frivolously leave my hot water heater "on" all day, 24/7, as I enjoy having "hot" water on demand, without waiting, and am willing to pay extra for that particular luxury.

[bitt]

so..........

either kill certain circuits or pull all cords and surge surpressors out of the wall when not in use...????

[TChris]

The monitor still draws the same amount of current whether or not you have the "screen saver" set to blank.

The noise your PC makes when processing data does not draw any more current than when it sits at idle.

Umm... I understand the sentiment, and your advice is mostly good. But these two statements are simply not true.

EnergyStar power saving technology has been a part of computer hardware for a while now.

* Monitor power management (MPM) can save $10 to $30 per monitor annually by placing your inactive monitors into a low-power sleep mode.

* Computer power management (CPM) places inactive computers (CPU, hard drive, etc.) into a low-power sleep mode, which can save $15 to $45 per desktop computer annually.