You wouldn't save more than a buck or two.  At idle most computers use a few watts (I can't remember the exact amount) an hour.  You are billed by your utility company for Kilowatts (1000 watts) at maybe $.10 Kwh. I leave mine running 24X7 unless I go away from home, but I always log off and turn off the monitor (uses the most power). I have set up my power scheme in Win 98 to turn off the hard drives after half and hour.  Go to control panel/power management to set up a power scheme.  You probably lose more money in your pants pockets than you will save turning off your roommate's computer (especially if he/she is totally opposed to it).

>I was wondering if anyone could give me an estimate on how many watts per
>hour a computer might use while on, but not necessarily in use. There is no
>power saving mode used either.  Its just sitting idle.
>I believe its a 250 watt power supply, AMD athlon processor, cd rom and cd
>burner, hard drive, floppy, kb, mouse, RAM, etc.  The monitor and the
>computer stay on 24 hours a day. It belongs to my roommate so I was just
>curious if I could save anything at all by turning it off at night or
>something, or if its really not drawing that much electricity to even bother
>with.
>He uses an APC Back-Ups 500 also.
>I personally turn mine off atleast at night and sometimes when I won't be
>home all day.



__________________________________________________________________
Your favorite stores, helpful shopping tools and great gift ideas. Experience the convenience of buying online with Shop@Netscape! http://shopnow.netscape.com/

Get your own FREE, personal Netscape Mail account today at http://webmail.netscape.com/

        The NOSPIN Group provides a monthly newsletter with great
       tips, information and ideas: NOSPIN-L, The NOSPIN Magazine
           Visit our web site to signup: http://freepctech.com