Ideas on how to save electricity

humfer

See that theres a similar thread on the water board, so thought one on electricity would be a good idea (did have a quick search of this forum and didn't find anything similar - apologies if one already exists)

Anyway back to the point - pretty happy that I have my gas and water under control, but what do people recommend as do's and don'ts for electricty. Have heard all the usual about leaving tv's on standby, but what about sky boxes, microwaves, etc... How much per hour say does leaving the dvd player on standby cost? How much per hour does leaving a light bulb on cost? Whats the benefit for changing to these more efficient light bulbs, etc.......

bendtoy_2

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=235702

madred

I bought one of these

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=38343&TabID=1&C=SEO&U=SEOsear chPages&doy=search

on Monday to monitor appliancies. To see where we are actually using electric as our bill seems quite high.

I will post the result of various household appliancies if any one is interested?

Obviously it all depends on how much it costs you per unit to the actual cost and changing you lights bulbs can have a significate saving if they are being used alot. Our bathroom light is more or less on all night and it is a 20W bulb therefore for 10 hours it will use 200W. Currently the higher rate with EDF is 10p per KWH. Therefore it has cost me roughly 2p to have it on all night!

I hope this help, if anyone has any corrections etc please feel free to shout at me!

madred

newlywed

madred wrote:

I will post the result of various household appliancies if any one is interested?

Yes please...
I'm interested in the cost of the TV left on standby as well as what the Microwave uses when not being used. Hubby always leaves the TV's on standby :rolleyes: so could use some figures to persaude him

Also, I read somewhere that a dishwasher uses approx 14p of electricity for each run - is this correct? (I know it depends on the electricity supplier).

madred

I will then, for the cause leave my TV on standby overnight and get some of ideas of usage - but of course the rate will probably depend on your TV etc.

I will test the microwave this afternoon.

I dont know about a dishwasher as I am chief washerupper!

I will post the results as soon as I have them.

madred

newlywed

Yeah I'm chief washerupper too, but at weekends I go on strike and delegate it to the dishwasher!!

Thanks an idea of the standby uses would be great cheers!

amcluesent

Your main cost will always be converting electricity into heat and, secondarily, converting electricity into light. So savings will come from effeciency in using the immersion heater, electric cooker, electric fires, kettle, PCs, spin-dryer, washing machine, 100W bulbs etc. Tiny savings here would more than pay for leaving the TV on standby.

Also bear in mind that switching electronic devices on and off does reduce the life of the device. So saving pennies unplugging the TV, might mean a new TV sooner than necessary!