Wanted: a "Save energy, be more secure" howto

[David Curry]

Charles E Taylor IV wrote:

>On Sat, 05 Mar 2005 14:44:24 -0500
>David Curry <dsccable at comcast.net> wrote:
>  
>
>>The point here is that the net energy savings from shutting down pcs 
>>when they are not is use is not a linear function of energy consumed by 
>>pc devices alone.  The same is true of electric lights.
>>    
>>
>
>It'll always be a net waste of electricity to leave the lights/CRT on  -
>even in winter.  Unless, that is, your building's heating system is less
>efficient at generating heat than your CRT/lights are.
>
>It's just a little bit LESS of a waste to run the stuff in winter than it
>is in the summer.
>
>Having said that, wouldn't a "save energy" HOWTO basically be a guide to
>getting ACPI or APM functioning on your machine?  I don't have any
>traditional desktop PCs in my home anymore, but the ones at work all
>support power management to some extent.
>
>Plus, nobody's going to be hacking into your machine when it;s suspended.
>:)
>
>  
>
I have no problems at all with what you say, here, Charles.  I was just 
suggesting that if one is going to try to estimatte how much financial 
savings can/will be realized from shutting down computers it would be 
best to avoid an overly simplistic approach because the savings function 
is not linear in energy used by the computer and peripherals alone.