Friday, July 18, 2014

Switching off electronics to save money

I read an article recently that said you could save money by turning your wireless router off at night. It gave a list of electronics and the cost of energy used while they are on standby:

Annual energy usage while on standby

Source: Ecotricity
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

What do you think? Do any of you turn these things completely off when they are not in use (maybe when you are at work) or overnight? Some of you may think, "Well, it's not that much money." Okay, what about just trying to reduce your carbon footprint by reducing the energy your use?

We unplug the printer when it is not in use as well as our small kitchen appliances (yes, even my beloved coffee maker, which has a clock. Hey? It's not like I can't turn around and read the time off of the microwave.) and chargers. I am guilty of leaving my computer on standby for days. I think I'll break that habit.

But seriously, what about the wifi? What other areas are easy to save that I just haven't thought about?

2 comments:

  1. We keep all of our TV stuff turned off at the wall because it is plugged into the transformer which is not good to keep on all the time. I keep my coffee maker plugged in because I use the timer function every morning. I guess I could be better about the chargers and the computer too!

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  2. Yeah. I'm trying to get better at turning the outlets off when I finish charging things. I still forget sometimes.

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