How much energy does sleep use??

Not much, but nearly everything plugged in uses power while in standby.

Get your mom to buy a Kill-A-Watt and you can hunt down those power vampires around your house.

 

http://www.apple.com/environment/reports/docs/Macmini_Lion_Server_Product_Environmental_Report_July2011.pdf

Not much at all. Sleep it. It's like a dollar a year.

 

very close estimate.


it ranges 1 to 2 watts per hour.
about 24 to 48 watts a day.
about 720 to 1440 watts per month.

about 8640 to 17280 per year that is 8.6 to 17.2 k-watts.
In New Jersey at 23 cents a k-watt.

you are 1.97 to 3.95 a year.

it is hard to measure with a k watt meter since a k watt meter is plus or minus 1 watt.

I have measured a few sleeping minis with my k watt meter and the readings are 0 1 or 2 watts at all times.

The average tv set is far worse. Have your mom look at the this thread i can post a photo of my mini with a k-watt meter reading if you want.

 

I guess I can't complain about my electric bill, 11 cents/KWh in Texas.

 

well it is 12.28 plus the delivery rate of 8.253


so that is 20.533 cents = full summer rate. this is the over 600kwh rate. I use 900 to 1100 each month.


when I wrote 23 it was from a few years ago and I just checked today the rate is down a bit.

 

If i sleep, i require only small amounts of energy.

 

lol

 

Electrical usage is minimal when sleeping but it all adds up. The cumulative cost of wasting energy attributed to electronic devices that are always on is considerable.

There is really no reason to leave a computer running 24/7 unless it is actually being used as a server or there is a warm body in front of it...

Macs benefit from being shut down on a regular basis. Depending on how it is being used a Mac can slow down within a couple of days due to RAM getting tied-up. Shutting it off regularly prevents this from becoming a problem.

An alternative to leaving it on sleep for extended periods of time is to use the Energy Saver preference pane to have the Mac turn itself on and off so that it is ready to use when you usually begin using it during the day and shut down at the end of the day.