How much energy in kilowatt hours does the average desktop computer use when it is powered down or hibernating

Question

The question basically is , if I set my computer to turn off the hard disks after being idle for 30 minutes and the monitor as well , how much electricity am I actually using.

Answer 1

If the computer is powered down or in hibernation, you aren't using any power.

Check the unit to see how many watts the computer is rated for to see what your power consumption is while the unit is on.  Add the watts for the monitor and any other peripherals as well to get the total usage.

Answer 2

here's something for all you yahoos to look up, because I don't have chapter and verse in front of me....2 scientists,a t I  believe MIT, had that same thought, They started adding up power consumption of all the stuff on standby..TV's, microwaves, phone chargers, answering machines, printers etc etc etc....and got that 7% of America's energy consumption is wasted on standby electronics because we're too impatient to wait for things to warm up.

So folks, put everything on a power strip and turn it off when your leave / go to sleep.

Answer 3

The desktop computer will use about 150 watts when running.  The amount of power the HD uses is peanuts, really- the main energy hog is the display, which can draw up to 300 watts.

By going to a flat screen, the energy consumption dropped from 220 watts for my computer down to 22 watts, and I figured the flat screens would pay for themselfs in about 4 years, just off the energy.