Saving energy - turning things off at the plug

arkonite_babe

Apparently the figures were provided by The Energy Saving Trust and there were no explanatory notes at all

Cardew

arkonite_babe wrote:

I received some environmental info with my bill from NIE (Northern Ireland Electricity)

The typical costs of appliances left on standby in the home are as follows:
Microwave £7.00
Cooker £5.00
TV £5.00
Video £5.00
Mobile phone charger £ 6.00
Cordless phone £8.00
Answer Machine £8.00
Stereo System £10.00
Washing Machine £2.00
PC £10.00
Printer£ 15.00
PC Speakers £5.00

Total £86.00

:eek:

This information is typical of the mis-information put out to 'scare' consumers by vested interests.

I would dispute strongly that those figures are 'typical' - they are a huge over-estimation of the costs.

An appliance using 1 Watt left on 24/7 365 days a year will consume 8.76 kWh which is roughly 70 pence per year.

Take TVs as an example. Virtually all modern sets(last 10 years or so) have a standby consumption of less than 1 Watt - later models much less.

My 32 inch Sony has a standby consumption of 0.6 watts. The DVD and stereo surround sound(Sony DAV -S800 with 5 speakers & woofer) takes 1.5 Watts and the VCR(Sony SLV-SE810G) 1.2 Watts. These are about 6 years old.

So if all 3 appliances were left on standby 24/7 they would consume about £2.30 in a year. That is a lot less than the £20 claimed as typical in the above post.

As for the LCD displays on my Microwave, Washing Machine and Cooker - I can't even measure the power they use on standby. Even huge commercial LCD displays have a tiny wattage.

Those 'typical' figures might have applied to 1960's appliances but are certainly not typical of today's appliances.

Look at the manufacturers specifications on the internet for verification.

gromituk

I think you are lucky with the devices you use. A quick search will show that a lot of devices consume a lot more power in standby than you quote. After all, it costs money to reduce standby power consumption.

It's difficult to draw conclusions from the type of clock display: a lot of power can be lost in the power supply itself, so using an LCD is not all that relevant.

Jays

gromituk wrote:

Turn it off if you haven't set any timer recordings.

Course, we've set timer recordings, that's what the b***y thing's for (Sky+, that is). :rotfl:


Could you imagine the fuss if my two son's and husband's favorite programmes were not recorded? (And mine, I confess). :eek:

We use it as a time machine, not bothering to watch the programmes when they are on, but to watch at our convenience, and to whizz through the ads and boring bits. Probably not very energy saving, but does save our time.

Jays

arkonite_babe

gromituk wrote:

I think you are lucky with the devices you use. A quick search will show that a lot of devices consume a lot more power in standby than you quote. After all, it costs money to reduce standby power consumption.

It's difficult to draw conclusions from the type of clock display: a lot of power can be lost in the power supply itself, so using an LCD is not all that relevant.

As I said :

arkonite_babe wrote:

I received some environmental info with my bill from NIE (Northern Ireland Electricity)

Figures were not worked out by myself, they were provided by Energy Saving Trust. Hope this clarifies things

Cardew

gromituk wrote:

I think you are lucky with the devices you use. A quick search will show that a lot of devices consume a lot more power in standby than you quote. After all, it costs money to reduce standby power consumption.

It's difficult to draw conclusions from the type of clock display: a lot of power can be lost in the power supply itself, so using an LCD is not all that relevant.

I've done my research and stand by what I said. I've given specific details of my appliances and the official data from the handbook. I didn't draw conclusions from LCD displays - I measured the consumption of the kitchen appliances.

I could give figures for a lot of TVs from the data available on the internet. e.g.

Look at the Panasonic range - the large TV's have a standby consumption of 0.3 watts - so on 24/7 would cost approx 20 pence a year.

Samsung TV's - their brochure states "under 1 Watt" for TV's up to 40 inches.

New Panasonic DVDs only consume 10 watts when fully switched on(not standby) so £7 a year left on 24/7

So what "Quick search" are you refering to? Or is everyone else lucky with their appliances.

Instead of general statements, why don't you come up with some specific appliances with their data of standby consumption to prove your point.

P.S.
Arkonite-Babe - you made it quite clear in your original post that you were only quoting from a leaflet you had received.

The problem is that organisations with a vested interest in energy saving etc take the worst possible example and quote those un-representative figure as typical.

Personally I can afford a few pence a year to leave my TV on standby - and I do. If others can't, or don't want to, that is up to them. However be objective about the savings.

DirtyDes

As a retired electronic engineer I agree entirly with the statement Cardew made, with the exception that I think the TV industry tackled the energy consumption problem 20 or more years ago, some TV you can hardly measure any power being used in standby due to circulating current in the input filters.

However I am concerned about the power switch on small radios etc, which only disconnects the radio from the power unit which will have mains power flowing through it all the time, I am surprised we do not have more break downs and fires, I invariable pull the plug on such devices when not in use..

As regards power saving by switching PC's off at night, our local authority employ someone at £30k a year to teach staff how switch their computers off!

The energy bill would have to be the size of the Nation debt to make him cost effective, much more could be saved by switching lights off etc, which should be done by electronic means when the office is empty.

Cheers DD

lamp

One easy way to save electricity (and carbon emissions!!) is to remember to remove your phone charger out of the socket after you've finished with it.

Believe it or not, but even if your phone is not plugged into it, it is still using energy!

Other things I find help make reducing electricity easy
1) buying extension leads with a 'master' switch on them - like this i just hit one button to turn my computer, monitor, pc speakers etc off!

2) nice, thick curtains in the winter, you'd be amazed how much heat they keep in the house!

3) listening to music on your computer? turn the monitor off! it takes seconds to turn back on again!

4) use regular bulbs in rooms where the light will only be on for a short time. Energy saving bulbs have a big draw on electricity while they 'warm up', not terribly useful in the bathroom or the tool room!

If I think of any more, I'll add them

Quasar

The only appliances i leave on at all times are the fridge and my phone/fax because they have to be on, and the Hi-Fi because its plug is behind furniture and I can't reach it unless I do some heavy shifting.

Computer (and the scanner which takes its power from it), printer, TV set, DVD player, the radio in the other room etc, are all switched off at the plug.

Since I live alone I have no freezer but my fridge is quite sufficient, and during cold winter spells I switch it off and keep the foodstuff in boxes on a windowsill out of the way, behind the curtains. That keeps the chilled stuff for a couple of days. Saves electricity and saves fridge wear and tear. But now I'll be getting double glazing, so it'll be too warm I espect...:(

Yukko

Cardew is right. These figures have been published by someone persuing their own agenda. I would go further than to say these figures are "not typical" and say they are downright misleading.

The environmental brand names have been pushing quite hard with stuff like this recently. The usual one is that if everyone turned off their TV at night we could get rid of a power station. Of course this is complete rubbish, power supply capacity is driven by peak demand not by how much power we use when we are asleep, which is why economy 7 electricty is cheaper at night, it needs to be used.

There are lots of ways to save energy and money in your home. Efficient heating, efficient appliances, good insulation, double glazing etc. The reason they are pushing the "turn off your TV" line is that it is something everyone can do, yet can't be bothered to. This enables them to leverage the resulting guilt to forward their own agenda, which lets face it is confrontation based rather than science based.

If you want to save money and energy:
1. Get good insulation
2. Have double glazing (and decent doors to keep out draughts)
3. Buy energy efficient appliances such as washers and fridges. The more efficient ones tend to be better built and so will last longer and cost you less in the long run.
4. Energy saving bulbs in often used areas of the house, especially where the lights are left on for long periods such as landings. Don't replace all your bulbs, there is no benefit replacing the light in the cupboard if it is only on for 10 seconds a day, you won't save money.
5. Turn down your heating a bit, or have it on for less time. You probably won't notice, especially if you are not there!