A couple of comments:
The best way to save energy/money is to simply buy a powerbar with a physical power switch then turn everything off when it is not in use. Perhaps my power meter is wonky, but I've been measuring ghost loads that are between 10% and 30% of peak power use on some machines (worse case was an original Apple IIc at over 60% IIRC). At the 10% end of the spectrum, a computer that is used two and a quarter hours per day (or less) would use more power for the part of the day that it is turned off than turned on.
Of course you cannot do that with machines that have to be up (e.g. servers). There are a couple of cases here though: if it is a personal use thing and you know that it is unneed while you're sleeping or at work, machines with software controlled power supplies can usually be turned on or off according to a schedule. While the earlier comment on power use to performance ratio is true, if you are not using the machine to its fullest capacity you may find that a computer with a slow processor and low power consumption will do the job just as well. A static web server was already 5Abrought up, word processing and file servers are other obvious ones, Even graphics work can be done on less power hungry models (if you go with more modern hardware).
Some porblems just require a social solution (modifying our behaviour) rather than a technological one (more energy efficient devices).
Granted, I've contemplated building my own power distribution system too to cut down on the few watts left on my discretionary power usage (i.e. computer energy use).
The best way to save energy/money is to simply buy a powerbar with a physical power switch then turn everything off when it is not in use. Perhaps my power meter is wonky, but I've been measuring ghost loads that are between 10% and 30% of peak power use on some machines (worse case was an original Apple IIc at over 60% IIRC). At the 10% end of the spectrum, a computer that is used two and a quarter hours per day (or less) would use more power for the part of the day that it is turned off than turned on.
Of course you cannot do that with machines that have to be up (e.g. servers). There are a couple of cases here though: if it is a personal use thing and you know that it is unneed while you're sleeping or at work, machines with software controlled power supplies can usually be turned on or off according to a schedule. While the earlier comment on power use to performance ratio is true, if you are not using the machine to its fullest capacity you may find that a computer with a slow processor and low power consumption will do the job just as well. A static web server was already 5Abrought up, word processing and file servers are other obvious ones, Even graphics work can be done on less power hungry models (if you go with more modern hardware).
Some porblems just require a social solution (modifying our behaviour) rather than a technological one (more energy efficient devices).
Granted, I've contemplated building my own power distribution system too to cut down on the few watts left on my discretionary power usage (i.e. computer energy use).