by Peter Daley
In this modern age we have all these wonderful gadgets that for convenience are designed to instantly turn on. So you come home from work and grab the remote and turn on the TV.
Most people don’t realise for the TV to be able to be turned on via the remote, it was never actually turned off. That’s right, the on/off button on all those remotes does not actually turn anything off completely. There is always mains power connected directly to the TV, stereo or computer when they’re in this standby mode. OK, it is using less power, but it is not turned off.
So what is the price of all this instant turn on convenience.
1. Approximately 10% of your electricity bill is simply being used to keep all these devices ready to be turned on instantly. All the devices in standby mode are directly connected to the mains and constantly on 24 hours a day. Ok, at a lower power use, but still on. They’re costing you money and polluting the environment with tons of green house gases.
If enough people just took the time to turn the TV, Stereo, or computer off at the wall, the
nation would instantly cut it’s power consumption by around 10%. You could potentially save 10% or more off your electricity bill. This depends on the number of devices you have in standby mode. I’m talking averages here. That is a big plus for the environment and your hip pocket.
(Note: Some devices will lose their timer, or record settings if you turn them off at the wall. You will need to reset everything again!)
2. More so during the storm season, electrical surges and power outages caused by lighting
and high winds, damage large numbers of consumer electronics. Why? Storm generated surges and power fluctuations blow them up because the devices are still on and connected to the mains. This can simply be prevented, by just turning the devices off completely, using the mains switch at the wall. People have not been educated about the importance off turning all these devices off at the wall when they go out, hear that storm coming or when going to bed at night.
3. There is also a fire risk. Ideally no electronic device should be left on or in standby mode
unattended. A lot of this stuff is made cheap, and you’re betting your home and your families life on it’s reliability. All electronic devices will eventually fail, no matter how well they’re made, and a percentage go up in smoke.
So turn all those electronic devices off at the wall switch when you’re leaving the room for any length of time, going out, going to bed at night, or when you hear that storm. Train the whole family in the importance of this. So by the flick of a switch you can save money, and clean up the environment, plus increase the safety of your home, your family and yourself. Wow, if everything was that simple!
© Peter Daley 2010
