Would using a UPS on my G5 save electricity?

Question

I know this may sound silly, but as I use my G5, I have noticed that my electric bill is much higher, since the G5s arrival in comparison to a G4's power consumption.
This may be a silly question, but if i were to get a sufficient UPS for the Dual 2GHz G5 I have, would it actually save me money on my electric bill, since it would be powered off of the battery, as the main power supply for th UPS is intentended to charge the battery, and requires, perhaps less power consumption or am I way off? Someone know?

Answer 1

The short answer is no, a UPS will do nothing to save you from consuming electricity. In fact it will add a bit (very very small) to your electric bill.
OK, the long answer.
You should have a UPS on your computer anyway. It is a valuable method of protecting your computer from many problems that can be caused by irregular electrical service. This includes brown out, black outs, fluctuating line frequency, line noise, surges, and more.
To give you some figures to help, I have a dual G5 2.5 with two hard drives and 2.5 GB or RAM, which I use about ten hours a a day. I have measured the wattage used over three days, and used that to compile these figures.
Average wattage: 200 watts
Kilowatt hour: 0.2
Hr per day: 10
Kilowatts per day: 2
Kilowatts per month (averaged for number of days): 60.83
Killowatts per year: 730
Cost based on $0.16 per kilowatt hour (total cost including taxes, fees)
per day: $0.32
per month: $9.60
per year: $116.80
Your cost will vary depending on total cost of electricity, hours used, and model of computer plus any additional peripherals involved, including any internal additions such as hard drives, memory, and expansion cards. Additionally the applications you use can effect the total power consumption depending on the Processor Performance setting.
Tom N.