Windows has a stupid setting… in most cases the screen saver time is set to around 10 minutes, but the monitor-power-off time is set to 20 minutes.
DUH! therefore the monitor stays on, displaying the nice pretty screen saver all day and night.
Does this cost you money? You betcha.
For example, my NEC flat panel draws 36watts when ‘on’ and only two watts when in ‘standby’ (orange light).
Let’s do the math:
with the screensaver set longer than the power save mode, PC sitting idle for 22 hours a day:
36 watts = 792w/h/d (watts/hour/per 22hrs day)
total 289,080 w/h/y x $.15 cost per KWH
cost approx $44 per year
Now with the power save longer than the screensaver
2Watts = 44w/h/d
total 16,060 w/h/y (watts/hour/year)
cost $2.40 per year
Therefore you save approx $42 annually if you adjust those settings and leave your PC on all the time. You save $44 a year if you just shut off your monitor.
Note that most old-school CRT monitors draw 85-90W when on, and around 5-15W on standby.
Therefore the savings for a typical CRT would be around $80-90 per year.
The CRT generates three times the heat, which may be a good or bad thing, depending on the season.
