...Interestingly (to me, at least, probably not to you guys) our computers (my PC, SWMBO's iMac) are using exactly as much electricity as the rest of the house combined. After 10 months of operation, the computers have consumed 1167 kWh, the rest of the house is at 1166...
One benefit of the trend towards using portable notebook computers as replacement for traditional desktop/tower computers is the generally much lower power consumption of the portable designs.
Recent and upcoming Intel low power chipsets, including the soon to appear Ivy Bridge versions provide fairly significant computer power with relatively low electrical power requirements. Along with reduced power consumption you generally get quieter cooling fan noise.
Apple uses the same portable chipsets in the Mac Mini 'desktop' models with similar low electrical power, low noise results.
My current generation (late 2011) MacBook Air 1.8Ghz drives 8 megapixels of displays (three external screens plus the 13 inch laptop itself) yet the automatic variable speed Macbook cooling fan generally runs so slowly that I do not hear it at al.
I didn't try to estimate what portion of your overall computing electrical consumption was due to the computer itself, but I imagine you have.
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