Stand by also spends energy/money

[impar]

Greetings!

Always nice to remember.

Most people think that when you turn something off, it actually turns off. Most people assume that it stops drawing power. Unfortunately, that's not true in the case of most electric devices. Most of them just hover in standby mode, waiting for you to 'turn on' the power again.

[nForcer]

Thanks, Imp.

I think I'll use that 'Vampire Energy' term to persuade the kids to turn all their gear off at night

[daglesj]

As a basic step I use the 'fatplug heat test'.

Once a new electrical item is installed it is put in standby/off mode and then I feel the temp of the powersupply/fatplug. If it is still warm an hour or two after switch off then it is disconnected or switched off at the plug until its needed.

My Slingbox is one that always runs very warm so it must be eating up a fair amount of juice just sitting there.

I wish routers had smarter power states too. I have been thinking of putting mine on a timer plug. Switching off between 2.30am and 8am.

I unplug as much gear as I can usually.

[impar]

Greetings!

PS3 uses five times more energy than a fridge

[nForcer]

"Apparently a fridge will go through $50 worth of electricity a year while a PS3 will cost $250 a year even if it is not used."

[powerarmour]

The PS3 is actually one of the few consoles that has a rocker on/off switch at the back, if you just switch that off instead of leaving it in standby mode then it's fine.

Obviously it draws a fair amount of power when it's on...

[AndyC]

I work for one of 'the big six' energy companies in the UK and it is amazing how much devices waste on standby.

Turn things off at the wall when they aren't in use.

You can get plugs and energy monitors which you can programme with the amount you pay per unit and then they monitor the current and tell you how much you have spent - our halogen lamp in the living room was costing us £1 AN HOUR! Since I got one, I have been much more careful with turning things off.

A cheap otion is to get a multi-gang with separate switches. Then, if you have to leave e.g. your PC on, you can still turn off your monitor and other devices.

[Digikid]

Thanks for this. This will be helping in convincing people to actually use theirs HEADS for once and turn off their computers instead of always leaving them on.

[impar]

Greetings!

Followed the links to here?
http://www.choice.com.au/viewArticle.aspx?id=106346&catId=100245&tid=100008&p=5&title=Computers%27+energy+costs

[daglesj]