How much energy or greenhouse gases can we save by turning off a computer for example?

Question

I want to know how much footprint we leave or what greenhouse effects we can save by just turning off a computer, 1 fluro light or fan etc in a primary school setting.

Answer 1

-- The power supply for your home (lights, computers etc.), is generated by a fossil fuel plant that does not slow up when you turn off your power or lights.  The excess power is simply not used and it can not be stored.  The savings is generated by not having to build new or start up moth balled power plants.

Answer 2

The footprint you make can be reduced by following consevation methods. If your not in a room turn the lights off, in a school setting there needs to be a reduction of lights left on for sercurity. Lowes for example has set their computers to go to "sleep" after five minutes of no use. That will by external calculation save the company $500,000 annually. But as thet other post states, all that reduction must then be followed by the power plants not having to produce as much energy, therefore saving fossil fuels and carbon exhaust. Some power plants are setting up carbon capture practices that actually "fix" the carbon in a stable state.

Answer 3

You really shouldn't think footprint, because that is really hard to determine. Different people will compute it different ways and argue violently with each other about how the other guy did it wrong.

So instead think of how many watts less electricity you can use. Your home electric meter will measure that exactly and all the people in the world will agree it is right. All electric devices have labels saying how many watts they use. Computers are in the range of 200 to 300 watts. A standard 60 watt bulb uses, surprise! 60 watts. A CFL that makes the same amount of light used 13 watts. Now a hair dryer uses 1,500 watts and a central air conditioner uses 5,000 watts. So you are basically being penny wise and pound foolish to concentrate on the small stuff.