PennyPrincess, for dealing with the techies in your house, I would just have them adjust the power properties for the computer such that when the system is unused for 1 or 2 hours (however long is appropriate for you), it will automatically turn off the monitor, turn off the hard disk, or totally shut down (you can normally adjust all of these options separately). It would still cause it to stay on for a little while after they finish, but it'll at least catch those hours in the middle of the night that nobody's even around it, and thus save at least some of the power consumption.
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