How much electricity does your home IT use?

Posted on By Mark Wilson

Last month I commented on minimising man’s effect on the planet and, whilst I’m in favour of reducing carbon emissions, much is being made of a few high-profile but relatively low-impact issues and governments are doing little to tackle the little things that can really make a difference.

One of those things we can all do is to examine the amount of electricity that we use – because there is direct link between electricity generation and carbon emissions (and, here in the UK, we have precious-little hydro- and solar-powered infrastructure so much is being made of wind, which is inefficient and variable, so still needs to be backed up with a firm source of energy – generally coal, gas or nuclear).

I imagine that, as IT administrators and enthusiasts, many of this blog’s readers have a collection of devices running a home IT infrastructure that would be more suitable for a small business. Back in January I bought a small server to migrate the workload away from my many PCs but my (capped rate) electricity bill has still risen – largely because I haven’t yet managed to move the workload away from the old kit that is destined to be turned off. Even if you don’t have a stack of IT kit running in your garage/cupboard-under-the-stairs-which-acts-as-the-home-data-centre, the chances are that you work from home sometimes – saving money and the reducing the emissions caused by travel – but distributing your employer’s energy usage across many homes (meanwhile the lights are still on and the air-con is still running back in the office).

So how much power does your IT use? Well, armed with a simple power monitor from Maplin, this is what I found:

Device Power (“on”) Power (“off”) Power (“standby”)
10 year-old PC (Compaq DeskPro EN6350: Pentium 3, 512MB RAM, 20GB HDD) 44W 5W
5 year-old PC (Compaq Evo D500: Pentium 4 1.7GHz, 512MB RAM, 20GB HDD) 50-100W 3-4W
Modern notebook PC (Apple MacBook: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2GHz, 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD) 22W 1W
Server (Dell PowerEdge 840: Quad-core Intel Xeon 2.13GHz, 8GB RAM, 1.1TB storage) 100W 10W
15″ LCD Monitor 25W 1W 1W
20″ LCD monitor 42W 2W 2W
Inkjet all-in-one printer/fax/scanner/copier (HP OfficeJet 6310) 8W (16W when printing)
Laser printer (HP LaserJet 2200dn) 10W (600W when printing)
Fast Ethernet Switch (3Com 3300) 45W
Gigabit Ethernet Switch (Cisco 3750) 65W
Unmanaged Ethernet hub (NetGear EN108) 2W
Unmanaged Gigabit Ethernet switch (NetGear GS108) 5W
Desk lamp 25W 1W
Nokia mobile phone charger 3W 0W
24″ CRT Widescreen TV 80W (average) 2W 4W

MaplinI’m no electrical engineer but there are some surprises there for me. My mobile phone charger doesn’t use any power when it’s not charging (contrary to popular belief) but it seems my desk lamp does! Turning off my monitors at night seems to make no difference to their power draw, so I should really remove the plug from the socket (as should I for the TV). Meanwhile my recent switch from a laser printer to an inkjet might save some power (depending on the amount of printing I do) but what about the environmental cost of all those ink cartridges? As for the networking kit – my unmanaged switches are not only fanless (i.e. silent) but they use significantly less power too.

Of course, not all devices are equal. When I last visited my Grandmother, I was alarmed to find that her television was still “on” when it was on standby – the screen was off but I could still hear the sound being broadcast on the last channel she had been watching. And my 10-year-old Sony Trinitron Widescreen CRT TVs are probably more efficient than today’s 100Hz High Definition LCD displays – they’ll probably last longer too, which is why I’m not getting rid of them just yet.

As for that pile of PCs running a “data centre” in the garage, it seems that my new server is reasonably efficient in comparison but it will still draw 2.4kWh a day – at around £0.15 per unit (it’s not that simple because some units are charged at a lower rate than others) that’s costing me £0.36p a day. That doesn’t sound much until you realise that works out as £131 a year if the server is running 24×7 – and that equates to 0.377 tonnes of CO2 [source: Carbon Footprint]. It looks like I’d better get out and plant some more trees…

So, regardless of whether or not you believe in “green IT”, you can save some money by switching off some of this kit when it’s not in use. Modern operating systems have power-saving options – and technologies like Wake On LAN (WOL) allow us to bring a device back online when it is required. You need to apply some common sense too – turning off the VCR at the mains socket won’t let the device do what it is intended to do (i.e. record TV programmes) but does the microwave in the kitchen need to be on all the time just to run a digital clock (another 2W)?

If you can’t get your head around saving the planet – forget the “greenwashing” and think about saving some money instead.

Calling all photographers – stand up for your rights

Posted on By Mark Wilson

For a while now, it’s become increasingly difficult to take photographs without suspicion and stories like the one of the father-of-three who was branded a pervert for photographing his own children in public park are extremely alarming. Admittedly this story was reported in the Daily Mail (a fine example of balanced reporting – not!) but nevertheless it is a perfect example of political correctness gone mad.

I’m a parent too and I have to admit that I am always very self-conscious when I photograph my children playing with their friends. Thankfully, their parents take no issue (indeed some find it strange that I even check with them first). I even have some great pictures of my kids that were taken by other people. But unfortunately it’s all too easy to accuse someone of wrong-doing – generally being a pervert or a terrorist – and the authorities will generally act first and reason later.

There are very few restrictions on taking photographs in public places but it won’t take long for that to change. Indeed, the current UK Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith has stated in a letter to the National Union of Journalists that:

“[…] there is no legal restriction on photography in public places […and…] there is no presumption of privacy for individuals in a public place.”

That’s sounds good until she continues by writing:

“Decisions may be made locally to restrict or monitor photography in reasonable circumstances. That is an operational decision for the officers involved based on the individual circumstances of each situation.”

Basically, she’s said that it’s not illegal but that the authorities will act if they feel it is appropriate and that, even though Chief Constables will issue guidance, the decision is down to local officers.

I spent a large chunk of my formative years watching trains and, whilst I realise that the social stigma that is attached to such activities will make readers think I’m weird now, that’s practically outlawed these days (the police will soon move people on who are seen hanging around a major railway station). Then, when I flew to the States last year, I took some pictures of aeroplanes at Heathrow (my young son has only seen them high in the sky – he had no idea what the plane Daddy was going to fly on looked like) – thankfully no-one tried to stop me but it won’t be long before that is considered a security risk.

The UK Government’s petitions site is little more than a publicity exercise but nevertheless it is an opportunity to demonstrate the strength of public feeling on this. If you are a UK citizen and you would like to see a public statement on clarifying the law as it relates to photography then I urge you to sign the e-petition on Photography Law:

Through history, we have documented the world around us, whether through written word, art or photography.

Photography in particular has provided fantastic insights into the past and present, and is a hobby enjoyed by millions of people worldwide.

But today, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to take photos of our surroundings, particularly in cities like London.

In recent years, the price divide between professional and consumer equipment has blurred, and it’s quite common these days to see amateurs and hobbyists carrying around tripods, SLR cameras and a backpack full of equipment.

Yet, we are constantly harrassed [sic] by security guards and police officers in the name of preventing terrorism. They seem to be operating under a different interpretation of the law to the rest of us, believing that somehow the length of your lens, or size of your camera is relevant.

We would like clarification by the goverment [sic] on the law regarding photography of buildings and landmarks from public locations.

If you don’t, then you’ll only have yourself to blame when the current power-hungry administration forces through the next phase of nanny state laws that restrict an individual’s ability to capture a photograph in a public place.