Print PDF
Favorite
Email
Step 6Unplug unused electronics
Unplug your electronics when you are not using them.
Believe it or not, your television uses energy when it is on standby. Unplug your television overnight, or when you are out at work and not using it. Plug it back in during prime time!
Blenders, toasters, soldering irons, hair dryers, curlers, straighteners, chargers, etc...
You can save a lot of money on energy if you just pull the plug on your electronic devices.
Believe it or not, your television uses energy when it is on standby. Unplug your television overnight, or when you are out at work and not using it. Plug it back in during prime time!
Blenders, toasters, soldering irons, hair dryers, curlers, straighteners, chargers, etc...
You can save a lot of money on energy if you just pull the plug on your electronic devices.
| « Previous Step | Download PDFView All Steps | Next Step » |
its a great tip and consequently i rarely use electricity in my room =]
And those of you who unplug your TV and other devices that typically use a remote control to power cycle them, and many have a real time clock, you loose those features too all for just a few cents of electricity, which you could likely save more of by converting to LED lighting, and doing the real calculations for the true energy used by an over vs a microwave.
How about motion and occupancy sensors that turn off lights when they are not actually being use, and on only when they are needed?
What have you done to make sure your frost-free refrigerator and freezers don't use a defrost cycle (900 watts) until it is actually needed?
If you live in a climate where a whole house exhaust fan could cool in the evening instead of running the air refrigeration unit (A/C), have you implemented that?
Does your water bed heater have a timer on it? Do you realize you could shut off your water bed heater several hours before you get up and not feel a thing? Do you have a heavy comforter and blankets on your water bed so you don't loose heat during the daytime? Do your electric blankets go off automatically or even be on the water bed heater timer.
Do you even own a simple device to measure the watts being used by your various appliances and fixtures so you know where the really big consumptions are? Do you use it to study your usage, or just take someone's comments as factual? You can purchase an inexpensive one from Harbor Freight Tools and others at stores and on line.
Do you know what percentage of your monthly/annual power consumption is going into these little appliances?
Do you have Time-of-Use metering on your power, so you pay less for off-peak hour?
first of all, i'd love to remind you of instructables' 'be nice' policy. thanks
when i need one appliance, like my phone charger, a place plug in my guitar amp, or my laptop, i plug them into another outlet in my room. i have two strips in my room, one connected to my tv, vcr, and radio, all of which are only on for several hours at a time and never on during the evening.
the other supplies power to my router for internet and phone and i never turn them off unless we go on a trip because that's the basis for my landline. i have a few extra outlets on this strip that i use for my laptop and cell phone charger as needed. it's not a hassle at all to unplug them after im done with them.
i do know about devices like you mention but that doesnt matter to me. as far as my room of the house is concerned, i unplug everything when its not in use. i dont find it to be difficult one bit. an, even if it does have a minimal impact on our electricity bill, it's good practice to be aware of the ramifications of our actions, especially when it comes to carbon emissions.
lighten up francis