Save electricity, save money, save the planet
OVER ON THE INQUIRER FORUM, which can usually be found here, one of the regulars decided it would be fun to measure how much power all the electrical gizmos in his house were using. It's just the sort of thing he does, OK?
He came up with a couple of interesting findings. Firstly that his cable TV box takes the same amount of power (14W) whether it's operating or in standby mode. But as it takes the box around 20 minutes to reload its schedule, completely cutting the power to it would be very inconvenient.
The combination of his TV, cable box, VCR and Playstation turned off draws 27W, or $1.38 a month. He considered using a timer to cut power to the whole lot for six hours each night, but it would take almost two years to recoup the cost of the timer.
But when we come to monitors, where one would expect a modern LCD display to knock the socks off an ancient CRT screen in the power stakes, we discover that the popular belief that LCDs help to save the planet is what scientists often refer to as 'a load of crap'.
Measurement of an LCD monitor showed a draw of one Watt in standby mode, as opposed to CRTs which register zero Watts. But because the LCD uses a third of the power as the CRTs when in use it still costs much less to operate than the CRTs.
However, the crunch comes when trying to justify a new LCD monitor based on electrical savings - he calculates it would take 38 years to recoup the cost of a $200 monitor.
Now, I don't know about you, but I reckon the chances of an LCD monitor still being in full working order after almost four decades' use are pretty small. I just did a quick look around the stuff in my house and the only thing that's still working after more than 40 years is me. And God knows I do as little as possible. µ
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you were going to buy a shiny new toy (LCD monitor, etc) anyhow so why not make it an energy efficient one while you're at it? 

And spend a few dollars/euros/etc more on a high-efficiency power supply for your next desktop PC. Sure, it probably won't pay for itself, but its fan will run quieter, your UPS will last longer, and it won't unnecessarily heat up your room.
It should be noted that the person who wrote that lives in a part of the country with extremely low electrical rates, $0.07/Kwh. People who live in places like California or New York, where rates are double or more, might see a greater return by taking certain measures such as swapping out light bulbs for CFLs or using LCD monitors.
Businesses pay much higher rates for electricity (certainly in Europe).

Therefore the time comes down, also the monitors tend to be on for longer.

We did a study at a former employers and found the screens paid for themselves in 2 years over CRT
Hmmm, you forgot some small tiny savings: Like a couple of million saved by preventing property and all the contents from being submerged by rising sea levels. Oh and a some other tiny savings by saving half the world's coastlines.

You know, tiny savings.
Buy waterproof stuff and learn to swim...
That 14W from the TV box is probably with a PF of about 50% so the power lines and transformers and the power company see it as about twice that much. Most of your other gadgets have an equally bad power factor so to be safe, take all your readings and double them if your concern goes any farther than the bottom line on your monthly bill.

Then not only do these newer cable boxes take the gestation period of an elephant to boot up, but stupid cable companies like Time Warner are apparently set up to shut down your account if the box is off-line for more than a day or two, so don't get any funny ideas like unplugging the box while you're on vacation, or you'll be spending thirty minutes on the phone trying to get it re-activated when you get back.

As someone already pointed out the math assumes some unusually cheap rates which are continually rising while the cost of the gadgets continually plummets. Shopping wisely, the northeastern US buyer of a new mid-range 17" LCD to replace his/her 17" CRT used nine hours per day can see the new monitor pay for itself in power savings before the IRS will let you obsolesce it, and they'll provide more display area and lessen summer room or workspace cooling demands as well.

Places outside the US where oil and electricity cost double or triple are way beyond us in practical solutions to annoying problems. Try to find a 120V power strip here with individually switched outlets. Good luck. There are some nifty things here if you look hard enough however. Search for "Smart Strip" for one example, and let your imagination run amok.

As much as I would like get excited about CFLs, most of the ones sold here in the USA are not compatible with room occupancy sensors or dimmers. Doh! And they all cause apoplexy in digital photographers. Oh, and the spiral ones with the old edison base are natively crap anyway.
I checked my CRT monitor and it draws 6W when turned off. I have it plugged into a power bar along with some other items that are only used when I am sitting at the computer and turn the power bar on when i am going to use the computer.

I have my satellite receiver on a timer set to turn on about a half-hour before I would watch. That gives it time to download schedule info. In my area it takes about 18 months to pay back. I don't consider that a long payback.
It'd be fun to measure you, Andrew. But for God's sakes, man, keep on the workings in case we might! And NEVER allow Right-Brained people into a Left field of thought!

About those coastlines: Demand green power from your powercompany, 0 emission power is easy now.

[rant]
Incidentally, the price per kW/h here is $0.38 (with tax), that's right, the people in this EU country pay 5 times as much as americans, and yet they ask us to save the planet instead of the americans, good luck with that with america's almost-free coalpower and 5 times as cheap gasoline to boot and their 2 SUV's per person but WE must save the planet, ok.. 
And then bush who refuses to sign kyoto for so long goes on TV and says "we are trying to save the planet but we can't do it alone".. freaking bastard.
[/rant]
Depending on what part of the world you live in, the real cost can be cooling the waste heat. If your tropical office is always air conditioned, then your cost is more than double since you are removing 100% of the heat generated. Conversely if you are constantly heating your office, that excess heat offsets some of your heating costs albeit somewhat less economically than other heating methods.

The other thing to keep in mind is that electrical service, at least in most of the residential US, is tiered. The first so many KW are billed at one rate, and anything over that is billed at a higher rate. Therefore if your usage is already in the higher bracket, a 5% usage reduction will be more than a 5% cash savings on your statement.