When you think of objects in your home that use a lot of electricity, you probably think of your air conditioner and heater. And you’d be right.You probably don’t think about your computer though, but you should. In this article, we’ll explain how much electricity your computer uses. We’ll also share some energy-saving tips as well.
How Much Electricity Does a Computer Use
If you’ve ever wondered, “How much electricity does a computer use,” we’re sorry to say that there is no clear answer. That being said, we’ll try our best here to help answer the question. Most computers are built to use up to 400 kilowatts of electricity per hour, but they usually use less than that.
The average CPU uses about as many kilowatts per hour as the typical light bulb. Any computer that’s running on a Pentium-type processor uses about 100 kWh. This is with the monitor off. Your computer’s monitor probably uses more electricity than the actual processor itself.
Once you turn on your monitor the electricity use rate goes up. Different computers are going to use different amounts of energy. Speakers, printers, monitors, and other types of hardware are all going to use some electricity to run. It’ll also take power to connect these things to your computer. This is all going to affect your electricity usage.
The same thing happens when you open up a program and start doing work on your computer or laptop. The amount of electricity your computer uses will vary depending on the program you’re using. For example, a word document program will use less electricity than a computer game. Downloading, uploading, and streaming files are all going to take a larger amount of energy than reading a pdf file or doing something else text related.
As you can see, there’s a countless number of reasons why your electricity use will vary. These variables make it impossible to explain how much electricity your computer uses.
That being said, you can make some guesses about your usage and cost.
Look at your equipment’s maximum electric capacity. You can find that information in the user manuals, on the box your hardware came in, or with a quick Google search. Once you have those numbers added together, find how much the average kilowatt-hour costs in your state. These numbers will vary from city to city, but at least the state average will give you a rough usage estimate. Once you have the average cost for your state, multiply the kilowatt usage by that cost. This will tell you how much it costs you to power your computer for an hour. This final figure assumes that your computer is being put through its paces.
Chances are that you do not demand that much from your computer. It likely uses electricity and therefore costs much less to use than your estimate. But, at least you know the maximum it costs.
You can even take it a step further and multiply it by the estimated number of hours you use it every day to get an idea of how much electricity you use daily.
Doing a little bit of legwork will help you figure out your electricity usage better than we can.
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