How bad for the environment is it to leave your PC/laptop/monitor on standby?

Question

How bad for the environment is it to leave your PC/laptop/monitor on standby?

Answer 1

The energy incurred when appliances are left in standby accounts for a significant portion of Australia’s energy usage and impacts on our environment

Energy used by standby power can contribute approx 10% of a household’s energy bill.

Each of your appliances on standby mode can consume up to 14 watts.  This may not sound like much but just think of the number of appliances that you have at home or in the office which continuously use standby power.  This number can be surprisingly large as can the total energy used, espcially in an office situation where you may have 50 to 300 or even many more people.

Answer 2

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Statistics needed -- The Deniers Part I

Warming is real -- and has benefits -- The Deniers Part II

The hurricane expert who stood up to UN junk science -- The Deniers Part III

Polar scientists on thin ice -- The Deniers Part IV

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Answer 3

It isnt a computer doesent emit anything really

Answer 4

as long as you were working on environmentaly friendly concepts the Environment does not mind

Answer 5

the cumulative effect is quite bad for the environment.  Computers generally draw 1-5W when they are turned off, as do  monitors and everything else.  In standby, these devices draw a little more power than what they do when they are off.  One machine isn't going to impact the environment a whole lot in the short term (over the course of many years, it could have a very small effect), but because of the sheer volume of machines, the impact on the environment is quite large.