Power Supplies, Saving Money, and switching vs. Linear?

["Andrew(N)" <andrew.ward@xxxxxxxxx>]

My electronics/wiring closet is costing $56/month to run. Ouch. Too
much! So one-by-one I am changing things to be more power-conscious.

Starting with a big linear 12V power supply. Altronics 12V, 4A type
linear power supply with battery backup: standard for alarms (a few
years back). I currently draw about 500 ma continuously, (Not sure what
my peaks are, but bells and sirens are powered separately.

This draws around 1.1 A on the AC line, so 132 Watts continuously. Big
transformer, always warm. Seems wasteful.

IF I SWITCH TO A NEWER, SWITCHING POWER SUPPLY, say the Elk P412 (or
any other you recommend) WOULD I DRAW MEASURABLY LESS AC CURRENT?

I am powering various motion detectors,  InfraRed repeaters (Niles), a
small, 7 Watt audio amplifier and a few other devices.  Would the 100
MV ripple on the Elk power supply bring any problematic noise along
with it?

Thanks for your suggestions

-Andrew