The REAL costs of living

cormie

From keeping a light on for an hour to leaving a pc on overnight. I'd like to know the real cost of living on various things. As many facts and figures as possible. Thanks

Hobbes

Yes hang on a second. I keep a small 100 page report right by my desk I can type in.

:rolleyes:

You know you can buy a plug thingy that does just that. Won't do it for a lightbulb but you can work that out from your electricity bill and google.

drrnwbb

you could just multiply the wattage on the lightbulb/puter/kettle by the kwh price on yer esb bill by the number of hours. thats the most basic way of doing it.

if you want to include the true social cost/delivery cost/manufacturing cost/other random costs then no idea

dw

Lump

drrnwbb wrote:

you could just multiply the wattage on the lightbulb/puter/kettle by the kwh price on yer esb bill by the number of hours. thats the most basic way of doing it.

if you want to include the true social cost/delivery cost/manufacturing cost/other random costs then no idea

dw

Yes but most things, computers for example don't use the full wattage all of the time.... you can only really work out the maximum it'll cost to run your computer... Also hoovers have variable suction strength. Hence you can work out the maximums....


John

Maximilian

You people aren't on glue by any chance, are you?

BolBill

Maximilian wrote:

You people aren't on glue by any chance, are you?

(still laughing)

frantic_mel

would also be interested to know

Lump

Work it out then...


John

skywalker_208

Havent you little to be doing with your time!!!

Sleepy

Maximilian wrote:

You people aren't on glue by any chance, are you?

No. We're members of Boards.ie

Haven't you noticed we're all a bit mad?

Maximilian

Yeah but thought maybe there was solvent abuse thrown into the mix.

woosaysdan

Maximilian wrote:

Yeah but thought maybe there was solvent abuse thrown into the mix.

that would be mental!!! *goes looking for something in the press

ShiverinEskimo

would be very very difficult to work out the power usage of a pc left on. Depends, is it just going to idle? what sort of screensaver have you? does your monitor switch off after a while? are you downloading while its on all night? more **** running equals more wattage equals mo money. Someone did say to us (a lecturer) thats its cheaper to leave a pc running for 4 hours that to switch it on and off twice within four hours. Something to do with the initial surge required t power it up and all the checks it does during power up.

Tusky

Maximilian wrote:

Yeah but thought maybe there was solvent abuse thrown into the mix.

Solvent Abuse....yum. A pounding headache and a spot of dizzyness....oh and the possibility of dieing instantly. Deadly buzz. 2 cans of Lynx and 12 dutch hold in a bush , SWEH does exactly what it says on the tin.

skywalker

frantic_mel wrote:

would also be interested to know

the costs, or whether they're on glue?

cormie

I dont pay the bills. I'm tryna figure how much I would be paying for my lifestyle.

I hear it uses the same amount of electricity to have a tv on standby as to have it on?
fvc
So what is the max cost for having a light on for say 5 hours? I also heard it costs more to switch a lightbulb on and off then to keep it on.
0;/l.5nmcjndsm6nnnnnyuun (what the? Thats what was on the screen after my cat was on the keyboard)

anyway,
I wonder, is this the same for bike lights. Would it use more battery power to have the light flashing or to keep it on?

ShiverinEskimo

battery lights are LED's (the flashy ones anyways) rather than normal bulds with the elements or filaments or whatever you called them. extremely low voltage so not really.
I dunno about the tv on standby thing either. I reckon thats just the firemen trying to encourage you to turn the thing off each night and preferably unplug it - then go have a fag in bed.

SoupyNorman

Sleepy wrote:

No. We're members of Boards.ie

Haven't you noticed we're all a bit mad?

I think one of my best qualities is being abit mad.

I think it was SEAL who once said;















"so you want....to be free!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

fjon

cormie wrote:

I hear it uses the same amount of electricity to have a tv on standby as to have it on?
f

I read somewhere that an appliance on standby takes up 20% of the power it would when on.

And I've also read that turning on and off appliances like TVs and PCs takes the equvalent amount of energy as having them on for a few hours.

Seraphina

high on life!

and glue!

boo4842

As a serious comment, if you phone the ESB they will send you out a booklet detailing the energy costs of just about anything you can imagine, and how much units it uses.

We asked for one when we had a pay as you go meter, and its very obvious that you can spend a fortune on electricity. Trivia: A Kettle is just about the highest user there is. 2 min for a kettle is like an hour for a PC.

My apt is now all utilities included So I live 2 PC'son 24/7 and the kitchen light on all night, and usually a light on when I go out. Its great not having to worry about it.

Sleepy

Except you're still contributing to the greenhouse effect...

Good man.

monkeyfudge

cormie wrote:

0;/l.5nmcjndsm6nnnnnyuun (what the? Thats what was on the screen after my cat was on the keyboard)

Did it run away with the 'Backspace' key as well???

Boo4842 wrote:

My apt is now all utilities included So I live 2 PC'son 24/7 and the kitchen light on all night, and usually a light on when I go out. Its great not having to worry about it.

And Ireland will soon be having to pay massive fines as it can't keep it's emission levels under control.

boo4842

Sleepy wrote:

Except you're still contributing to the greenhouse effect...

Good man.

LOL

by leaving my kitchen light on, I'm contributing to the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?

Please explain?

boo4842

monkeyfudge wrote:

And Ireland will soon be having to pay massive fines as it can't keep it's emission levels under control.

I live in Canada FYI - electricity costs 1/3 the price and is 65% produced by nuclear power - clean burning except for the meltdowns

cormie

Just another question,

How much electricity does a timer plug used compared to what it may be connected to? Is there much of a saving? The plug, once switched in will rotate with the time and will give power at certain points in the rotation. What would be the percentage saving? Say an electric heater if it was to be on for 12 hours how much would it cost, and if it was to be off for 12 hours but the timer still going, how much would that cost? thanks

Lump

The timer doesn't use any power I think.

John

Bah

Lump wrote:

The timer doesn't use any power I think.

The timer obviously uses power for the clock mechanism, but the amount of power used is'nt huge. It's practically negligible.

Civilian_Target

Well, to get a sane reply into the mix, my experience is that your PC uses about 1.5c an hour, plus another 1.5c for each switched on CRT monitor. Realisticly, if you leave your PC on most of the time, and use it for 3 hours a day or so, it's going to cost you about €25 a month.

Thats my experience anyway.

Its nothing compared to the cost of beer though

sceptre

boo4842 wrote:

LOL

by leaving my kitchen light on, I'm contributing to the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?

Please explain?

Where do you think the power is coming from? Electricity gnomes?

goose2005

Just yourself breathing would release way more CO2 than a lightbulb's electricity production.

A Kettle is just about the highest user there is. 2 min for a kettle is like an hour for a PC.

Surely an oven would use up far, far more? It needs so much current it can't even use normal plugs.

Lump

No an oven heats up over time... a kettle is instant.

AFAIK the reason a cooker cant use a regular plug is that if you have all 4 hobs and both ovens running it'll draw more power.

John....

simu

Any idea how much the energy the fan on a laptop mains adapter uses? The annoying thing about them is that they stay on even when your laptop switches itself off.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Lump

simu wrote:

Any idea how much the energy the fan on a laptop mains adapter uses? The annoying thing about them is that they stay on even when your laptop switches itself off.

Not much... find out the power rating. What kind of a daft laptop do you have that the fan stays on after it's turned off?

John

simu

Lump wrote:

Not much... find out the power rating. What kind of a daft laptop do you have that the fan stays on after it's turned off?

John

It's not the laptop's fan but the one in the adapter.

Lump

Oh right.... Just plug it out

John

The_Conductor

I feel like a spoilsport posting a genuine answer to the guy's question.

Sustainable Energy Ireland do an energy calculator for working out your energy uses- its the closest that you're going to get (without going seriously insane).
It breaks it down into the different areas of the house (and advises on how to save energy- oddly enough!) Recommend you get a calculator with large buttons, it may be helpful after the substance abuse....


http://www.irish-energy.ie/content/content.asp?section_id=556&language_id=1

cormie

Also:

Just say a phone charger is plugged into the wall, but not plugged into the phone and therefor, is not charging the phone, is there still electricity being used by it being plugged in? How much?

How much electricity do you think is being used by a portable house phone by it being plugged in all the time?

Would the same amount of electricity be used by a set of speakers if they were plugged in and had the volume up to the max if there was no audio device connected to it as to if there was and audio device connected to it?

thanks.

Lump

The phone charge will use power if it's plugged in but not connected... due to the transformer transforming the electricity... even if it's not pwoering anything... the heat given off it caused by electricity....


John