The areas I use most at home are now free of incandescent bulbs. I replaced everything with fluorescent.This was recently ,made possible by the "dimmable" bulbs that recently appeared in the stores. There are still a couple of old bulbs in small lamps in rooms I never use but as they burn out (which will take a long time cause they are never used) , they will be replaced

I figure in the areas I use a lot I have replaced 10 bulbs. Say they are all 22 watt (some are actually smaller , 16 I think) that means if they were all on I would be using 220 watts. Previously I had about half 100 watt and half 75 watt so say 87 watt average. That would be 870 watts if all on. That's a nice 75% reduction in peak demand. Assuming the hours of use have not changed , that's also a 75% reduction in energy use. In fact I think its a little higher because I have one double bulb florescent that lights up the kitchen better than 4-75 watt bulbs once did.

If the new bulbs last as long as the package brags , the economics of it are easy with about $65 to $100 saved per bulb over its predicted long life at current energy rates.

I always wonder how much energy my computer is using while it sits there idle. I know the monitor turns almost off but the computer power supply is rated at something like 500 watts but I have no idea how much is used just leaving it on all night.

Anyway , IMO the new light bulbs do significantly reduce energy consumption , lowering the bill and hopefully benefiting the planet , etc.

not only is the PC using electricity but it's open to being attacked
when NOT being used.... all night long.

i would think it's using more electricity than several light bulbs

Saltheart, why not set your computer to go into Standby Mode after being idle for a period of time?

Then, when you come back to the computer, a simple press of the spacebar and it should be ready to go in 10 seconds or less.

If you need a hand getting it setup, let me know... Or this might help:
http://www.genexe.com/?p=498

My understanding is that a computer in Standby mode uses less than 10Watts of electricity - upwards of a 70-80% savings (using a 500W PSU)

Just don't break one. Your place will turn into a hazardous waste site. EPA on clean up of mercury spills from Compact fluorescent lights :doh:

http://www.epa.gov/mercury/spills/#fluorescent

I have used standbye before with older computers and had trouble waking it up. I may try it with this computer for a while and see what happens. My current keyboard has a seperate button just for that.

I have read where the new LCD and Plasma TVs use a lot of energy even when it's
turned off. I cut the TV electric line off by switch at night along with my computer.

Pain booting up on both, but it just takes a minute or two.

I turned on the standbye feature and it works fine. I'm sure that's worth $5 to $10 a month! :) Getting greener every day.