Got an old TV? Got a new TV? I bet that your laptop or netbook still uses less power than both of these. I started watching TV shows online a while back mostly because my favourite shows are on too late for me to watch! It’s nice to know its also a green choice.
Check out our 365 Green Tips Series!
I never really thought about the laptop being a more green option than a TV. What a great tip. I have tried watching some things on TV, like some of the NHL games since I can work online and multitask during commercials and can’t always find them on the dish. I have considered getting rid of the dish as a money saving option since we really don’t watch that much TV but I do like catching sports when possible.
I actually use a secondary monitor to watch the showers. It plugs into the laptop via a HDMI cable – then I can use the laptop to do other things at the same time.
Of course you know I’m going to show up with a shameless plug for my Free Internet TV for Canadians guide.
So there it was =) Never really thought of it being a greener alternative though. Good to know!
And of course we knew it was coming and are more than happy to include this AWESOME LINK to your article in our comments section. Must read folks.
Great tip and definitely should consume less energy. We do not have a Tv anymore (well we have one–just don’t get any television channels on it) so we spend a lot of time on our computers. A lot. Hope you guys are doing great!
There is a ton of free and legal to watch content online. Paying for it is a bit silly.
It is important to remember that this lesson does not extend to a desktop computer.
The saving is not substantial, but I suppose it could add up over time. It looks to me like saying 30 watts per hour for a laptop is fairly average. TVs vary a lot, but an LCD HDTV would not be unrealistic at 150 watts per hour. This means you save a KWh of energy usage every 8 1/3 hours of TV watching. I do not have a good source for this data, but I have seen stuff saying the average American watches 5 hours of TV per day (jeez), for a savings of 18KWh per month or… $2.02 per month in energy savings at my local utility rates.
My math:
(LCD usage – Laptop Usage)/1000*(hours of tv per month)*(utility cost per kwh)
Feel free to plug in your own numbers.