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May 9, 2008

Power bill ()

by fluffy at 5:49 PM
Okay, so a while ago I decided to try keeping my power bill under $25.

My last power bill before that was $58.71. My power bill right after that (with almost everything turned off for a week while I was in Japan) was $40.99. The power bill I just got was $42.02. So, even with my normal levels of activity, by just being a little more conscientious about power usage I've saved $16/month. It's still a far cry from my goal, but I'm not sure how feasible that is anyway. I wonder how much of that is just the refrigerator, for example (and if I let it get any warmer my frozen foods will melt and my refrigerated foods will spoil).

I think the measurable differences (what little there are) came from the following:

  • Turning off WiiConnect24
  • Allowing my PowerMac and MacBook to sleep after inactivity (although this really mucks with things, like my external audio interface on the PowerMac)
  • Using the hard power switch on my stereo instead of the "standby" mode
  • Not having the AppleTV plugged in all the time
  • Actually turning off my computer monitor rather than just trusting it to go into standby mode (for some reason it often doesn
  • Only having lights on where I actually am
Aside from never using my oven again and turning off my freezer I don't think there's really anything else I can do.

Comments

#10864 05/09/2008 07:46 pm
I just recently gained the ability to turn my PC on/off by remote (using Wake-on-LAN). Maybe I should do that, since it idles at 200 watts.
#10867 05/09/2008 10:38 pm
I should look into setting up WoL. I see plenty of apps to do it these days, although the problem is that the system I ssh into from outside my network is the one that I want to wake/sleep, and often the other active system (MacBook) is with me. Maybe I should look into finally installing DD-WRT on my router or something.
#10869 05/10/2008 06:51 pm
One winter in Toronto I turned off the fridge and just kept my milk in the windowsill, not to save power but because the fridge was so noisy. The landlord wasn't too interested in replacing a fridge that was merely loud.