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Cut the stand-by, amplify your savings

Answer

What is stand-by power?

Stand-by power is the power used by your appliances even when they have been switched off using a remote control, or are switched off at the appliance alone (and not at the wall). This means that you are still paying for things that should be turned OFF.

Measurements done by COOLmob on stand-by power used by individual appliances in the average household have shown that power is still consumed unless completely switched off. Possible savings of between $50 - $150 per year are possible from switching off appliances at the power point.

How do you know if you are using stand-by power?

You can calculate the amount of power you waste on stand-by power easily. 

  1. Turn off everything else that uses power in your home (such as the lights, air conditioners, fans, fridges, hot water heaters, pool pumps etc);
  2. Leave on items that have stand by mode (such as TVs, microwaves, stereos, chargers, entertainment systems etc);
  3. Measure how much power is being used when these larger items are turned off. You can do this by counting the number of times that the wheel in the electricity metre takes to go around.

You can also hire a Power Mate Lite from any of the Darwin City Council libraries to measure how much stand by power is costing you each year.

What items are costing YOU money when left in stand-by?

Item Watts Energy cost/year kg CO2e/year
Computer hard drive 4 $5.40 28
Computer speakers 3 $4.00 21
Computer monitor 3 $4.00 21
Printer 5 $6.80 35
Scanner 3 $4.00 20
Split system air conditioner 15 $20.40 99
Microwave 3 $4.00 21
Television 4 $5.40 28
Stereo 5 $6.80 35
VCR 5 $6.80 35
DVD player 6 $8.15 42
Cable TV controller 14 $19 96
Mobile phone charger 1 $1.35 7

You would be surprised to learn what products use stand-by power, and the only way to be sure that “OFF MEANS OFF” is to turn appliances off at:

  1. The power point;
  2. A switched power board or eco-switch (which you can purchase from COOLmob); or
  3. The switchboard.

Consider that…

A little bit of stand-by power, multiplied by a lot of appliances in your home, multiplied by the number of times people are not using their appliances, multiplied by all of the households in the world leaving stand-by power on…results only in the a huge waste of money and the needless emissions of greenhouse gases!

The changing global climate and rising price of electricity means that our hard earned dollars are too precious to waste on equipment that we think we have switched off.