Why we should turn off our electrical appliances

Aurora · Post by **Aurora** » 17 Aug 2008, 11:45

The Guardian - 15/08/08

British households are wasting the annual output of a large power station by failing to switch off their flatscreen televisions, set-top boxes, and internet networks when they are not being used, according to Ofcom's latest Communications Market report.

The equivalent output of the 1,500MW Didcot B power station in Oxfordshire could be saved each year if every home with a set-top box switched it off at night; that would conserve enough electricity to make 80bn cups of tea.

Consumer electronics account for about a third of home energy use, according to the Energy Saving Trust, but that use is forecast to balloon to 45% by 2020 as more people buy more gadgets.

The rise in average residential energy bills to just over £1,000 a year has made people more energy aware, but only when it comes to buying obviously power-hungry devices such as fridges and freezers, according to Ofcom.

Article continues ...

Kentucky Fried Panda · Post by **Kentucky Fried Panda** » 17 Aug 2008, 15:29

I've stopped leaving things on charge. Now I take my chargers to work with me and plug them in there.

More on this, work pay for my diesel and every now and then I borrow a roll of toilet paper... I squeak when I walk...

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 17 Aug 2008, 17:24

That's all very well but a lot of this crap is designed to forget everything when you switch it off. I can sympathise with people who can't be arsed to go through 10 minutes of swearing with the instruction book every time they want to watch a bit of telly.

Technology should be easy to turn off. Otherwise, who's in charge ffs??

JohnB · Post by **JohnB** » 17 Aug 2008, 17:38

It always amazes me that some stuff can remember everything when turned off, by storing it in non volatile RAM (I think!). My stereo knows what station I was last listening to, my sat nav knows where I'm going. There's no excuse for most things not being able to be turned off, as memory is so cheap now. Some stuff really annoyed me though. When I had a telly I always turned the video recorder off when not using it, but the flashing clock always annoyed me, especially when I had to try to remember how to set it to do a timed recording. The clock could be kept going by a tiny battery, or reset each time by the radio signal or connecting to the internet. When I ran my computer based business from home I had to leave too much stuff on permanently because of bad design.

welshgreen · Post by **welshgreen** » 17 Aug 2008, 17:42

Surely it wouldnt be hard for manufactures to sort this problem? like set top boxes for example, no off switch only a stand by button.

JohnB · Post by **JohnB** » 17 Aug 2008, 17:52

welshgreen wrote:Surely it wouldnt be hard for manufactures to sort this problem? like set top boxes for example, no off switch only a stand by button.

A lot of equipment doesn't have a mechanical on-off switch, so always needs to draw a bit of power even when turned off. It has a plug on the end of the mains cable though, and all 13 amp sockets now have a switch! Living off grid encourages the habit of unplugging things when not needed

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welshgreen · Post by **welshgreen** » 17 Aug 2008, 17:58

yea, I always unplug the things but most people are lazy and wouldn't bother!

rs · Post by rs » 18 Aug 2008, 08:08

We got an Efergy wireless energy monitor a few months back along with some timers and remote control plug sockets.

Since then we've managed to cut our electricity usage by 58%.

Although the only negative is now whenever you walk past the thing and see 1kw current consumption you run around the house trying to figure out what is using it !