The devices quietly running up your energy bills

[Michael Browne]

Which uses more energy in standby mode, a computer or a phone charger? You might be surprised

 

 

 

Most of us know that to cut our energy bills we should turn things like televisions and computer monitors off at the wall rather than leaving them in standby mode, which consumes power even when they’re not being used.

 

 

 

 

But smaller gadgets and appliances quietly running in the background could be pushing your energy bills up much faster than you realised.

 

 

 

The Energy Saving Trust estimates that an average household will spend up to £80 a year powering appliances left on standby and not in use.

 

Annual energy usage while on standby:

 

Wireless Router (e.g. BT Hub) - £21.92

Printer (Laser) - £18.26

Set-top (Satellite) - £18.26

Amplifier - £12.18

Compact Hi-Fi - £12.18

iPad charger - £12.18

Nintendo Wii - £12.18

Set-top box (Freeview) - £7.31

Alarm Clock - £6.09

Microsoft Xbox 360 - £6.09

Modem - £6.09

Sony PlayStation 3 - £6.09

Air freshener plug-in - £4.87

CD player / Tuner - £4.87

Television (Plasma) - £4.87

Video Player - £4.87

Inkjet printer - £4.26

Desktop PC - £3.65

Nintendo DS - £3.65

Oven (Electric) - £3.65

Microwave - £3.04

Television (CRT & LCD) - £3.04

Mobile phone charger - £2.44

PC monitor (CRT) - £2.44

Electric toothbrush - £1.22

Childs night light - £0.73

 

 

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/household-bills/10920520/The-devices-quietly-running-up-your-energy-bills.html

[citizenB]

So I am only saving £3.65 a year by turning the cooker off !

[ashmk]

If I went around unplugging and plugging back in all these devices everyday for a whole year then took the amount of hours that wasted and converted it into money earned per hour it will be cheaper for me to leave it all plugged in.

[BazzaS]

Which uses more energy in standby mode, a computer or a phone charger? You might be surprised

 

 

 

Most of us know that to cut our energy bills we should turn things like televisions and computer monitors off at the wall rather than leaving them in standby mode, which consumes power even when they’re not being used.

 

 

 

 

But smaller gadgets and appliances quietly running in the background could be pushing your energy bills up much faster than you realised.

 

 

 

The Energy Saving Trust estimates that an average household will spend up to £80 a year powering appliances left on standby and not in use.

 

Annual energy usage while on standby:

 

Wireless Router (e.g. BT Hub) - £21.92

 

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/household-bills/10920520/The-devices-quietly-running-up-your-energy-bills.html

 

The top of the (cost) list is one device you might not want to switch off!

 

You could save £22, but how much extra are you spending over "slow broadband" to have "fast broadband", whose speed you might then cripple by turning off the router.

 

By turning it off, the network might think the connection is poor, to which it responds by decreasing speeds until it sees the connection as stable.

 

Turning it off to save electricity may be false economy.

[labrat]

Hmm so the 3 wireless routers i have round are eating a bit then

 

might replace the alarm clock with an xbox if its same costs tho

[renegotiation]

The problem with switching off your home home hub/modem is that it can make your internet wonky for a few days. So I have heard anyway and from personal experience, don't think I was imagining it, it did seem to be the case. Nothing dramatic, but enough to have me leave it switched on. I am surprised that I could save around £1.80 a month by switching it off and might now reconsider.

[giraffes]

If I went around unplugging and plugging back in all these devices everyday for a whole year then took the amount of hours that wasted and converted it into money earned per hour it will be cheaper for me to leave it all plugged in.

 

Have you forgotten the environment?

[ashmk]

Have you forgotten the environment?

 

I do my bit. I'm not running around turning all my stuff off, it won't make any difference. One day I might plant a tree.

[labrat]

I do my bit. I'm not running around turning all my stuff off, it won't make any difference. One day I might plant a tree.

 

ive planted several - i might need firewood in a few years if gas keeps going up

[gigs]

Wireless Router (e.g. BT Hub) - £21.9

 

I don't think the company provided (Sky/BT etc) average router have a "standby mode" anyway whereby energy consumption is significantly reduced when in "not in use mode". It's just on or off. I could be wrong with this though.

 

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I forgot to add this article is missing

 

- electric water heater

- gas boiler water heater

 

Human error often leads to simply forgetting or simply turning off the water heating at a time later than ideal for energy consumption.

 

Homes are usually not fitted or inadequately fitted with on/off timer devices and the ones that you can buy are notorious for breaking down negating any efficiency savings. Let alone if you paid someone to install one if you don't want to fiddle with the electrics.

 

---

 

I bet the cost of human error from water heating makes up more than all the standby devices combined.

[Surfer01]

What they do not take into account is the start up usage when you are switching everything off and then on. BTW why would you want to switch off an alarm clock? Surely chargers only consume power if they are plugged into the unit they are charging? Who leaves a unit plugged in charging 24/7 365 days a week?

[woad]

For some, a better approach is to use extension strips with Individually switched sockets. Many living rooms, for example. Have few power outlets, often two double sockets or a cluster of four near the "entertainment" point. In my house, I have just a single double outlet. My home system is a plasma, satellite box, popcorn hour media player, BD player, two consoles, a NAS/media server, and a gigabit switch to link them to the router. The popcorn, BDplayer, amp, and satellite box don't have physical on/off switches. All are connected to a single multi-socket surge protected power strip, each plug is labelled according to the device, and physically switched off at the plug when not in use.

 

Risks cheaper than leaving them all in standby mode, and more flexible than the approach of turning them all off, or all on/standby. The strip cost £34, but has repaid itself in under a year, especially as I'm on economy 7, which is horrendous for daytime usage.

 

Any devices will still consume power, even when off, as there is a small resistive load on the circuit. But this is so small as to be minuscule, but I have long since suspectd some chargers, even when not charging, impose a higher load than others... Main suspects being cheap 3rd party chargers.

 

On subject of power strips, DON'T buy cheap. Cheap ones have no circuit protection, often a single socket will fail, and can also overheat with catastrophic effect.

[renegotiation]

Wireless Router (e.g. BT Hub) - £21.9

 

I don't think the company provided (Sky/BT etc) average router have a "standby mode" anyway whereby energy consumption is significantly reduced when in "not in use mode". It's just on or off. I could be wrong with this though.

 

I think you are right as far as I know. I was also wondering if the electricity consumption figure might be very different with the wireless function switched off. Some people do have the wireless functtion switched off and it might not be worth their while to switch off the entire unit, given their internet connection can be a bit unstable on switching it back on, if they knew they weren't going to be saving as much as they thought they would.