consumption on standby how do you value the effort ??

[big-all]

i turn off all equipment that wont be used regularly
this includes tvs games consoles washing machine
in fact anything in an unused room[several days ] will be unplugged/disconnected
things regular[not daily] used will be unplugged when not in use
things in daily use will sometimes be unplugged and others will not

things i always unplug at every opportunity are
printer
lap top when fully charged then plugged in when required
shed tv
washing machine
vhs recorder
chrome cast
second monitor connected to lap top
main tv
mobile phone charger
router


things never unplugged but turned off
main tv
microwave
tumble dryer
3 freeveiw boxes
3 signal boosters

now the only room for saving are becoming quite anal lol
the micro with display 1.1w
big tv 1.1w standby
baby monitor used to transfer the doorbell/house sounds to the shed 1.3wx2
the 3 booster and freeview recorder boxes are in constant use so no savings there

now i am already on record as saying a light on for 10hrs average a day over the year at around 12p a unit will use 1p per 1w per week
off course things on standby will use 2.4p per 1watt by the same logic off course this will be offset by the used time where the standby usage won't apply

so if i take the maximum saving possible big tv say 20hrs at1.1 micro 24 ish at 1.1=4.4p baby alarm 2.6w for say 18 hours around 5p so now 10p a week is not remotely worth the effort or even £5 a year

the point is really we all like to look after the planet and feel good but at what stage is clamping your buttocks tight shut to save money actually detrimental to your health and sanity

as an aside the second monitor that i use to watch bbc catchup as opposed to main tv and chrome cast could save 25w per hour as chrome and tv uses 45w over 20w for the monitor the picture is a simillar size being closer but again is it worth the effort as 70w hours = 1p so iff i watch say 3 hours off programs thats 20w x 3 = 60w or 1p saved ??
just not worth the effort but as a late night noise reduction effort great as its near your ear its very quiet

 

[Mikefromlondon]

I don't bother, as my normal consumption is very high, so standby doesn't really merit bending over trying to pull plugs out or switch off.

but as for gas consumption, I allow my CH to run 24hrs continuously at low flow temperature of 40C, the boiler cycles on average every 1min 16 seconds with gas being switched on for 12 seconds, I worked out that gives me a total on time of roughly 4 hours of gas use per 24 hrs. This keeps my house at a steady temperature of 19 to 20 c, and daily cost of around £4.50 plus a daily standing charge of around 25p on top.

I was out of interest measured how much hot water i used when taking a shower, and was shocked that It was over 45 litres, and how much gas is needed to heat up that quantity of water, so I changed my ways, I now wet myself then switch off the shower, soap and rub, then open the shower again and rinse off, thus cutting my consumption by nearly half to around 25 liters.

Then I saw one liberty taking tenant at a rented house, who doesn't have to pay any gas bill, he went into a shower and took 20 minutes and I happens to have taken the gas meter reading and when he finished he had used 0.6cu meters of gas, so then today i took a shower at my house and took both before and after readings and I used 0.234 cu meters of gas.

When you are paying for things others take real ****!

Now I have stopped taking shower everyday, in winter you don't really need one everyday, unless you worked in underground sewage works and clean drains!

 

[noseall]

Plenty of tightwads up at our golf club who regularly use the the locker room as their regular showering facility.

 

[Bodgeitandleggit]

In my experience you should never turn off your router... I used to unitl it stpped working and spent hours on the phone.. the tech guy said it was updating when I killed it and he strongly advised to never turn it off

 

[conny]

I was once told never to turn off my router as if someone is trying to hack it by 'pinging', when I turn it back on, this is the perfect opportunity to break through any firewall.

 

[AronSearle]

Turn off everything bar computers, which I put to sleep (not off).

If you only plan to turn the computer off for several hours, it will use more power during bootup, than if you just put it to sleep for several hours.

Most computers now only draw a watt in sleep, (it just feeds a trickle of leccy to keep the memory alive for instant 'start' time).

I was once told never to turn off my router as if someone is trying to hack it by 'pinging', when I turn it back on, this is the perfect opportunity to break through any firewall.

Errr....Ok...also bush did 9/11......

Turning off your modem did cause problems with some broadband providers/exchanges, as they saw it as a dropped connection rather than you turning it off = everytime the provider server sees you regularly dropping out it throttles the speed to improve connection reliability.

Not sure if IP providers have sorted this problem now, and it was only a problem for some people.

 

[JBR]

things i always unplug at every opportunity are
...
vhs recorder
...

You still have a VHS recorder? Those things went out with the ark!

(Actually, so do I. I still have dozens of VHS tapes that I may copy to DVD.)

 

[wobs]

New PVR hard drive thingie under TV: 0.2w on proper standby (22w when in use). Left on standby when not in use.
Old DVD/VHS recorder: 3.5w on proper standby, (40w in use). Left on as the clock is useful.
Modern cheap DVD player: 10w when in use. Standby not stated in manual.

As you can see, things are getting better for standby energy use. Although proportionally, they are still a small % of our energy use. I do turn off various stuff at the sockets.

It is true that doing so will not save the planet:
http://www.withouthotair.com/c19/page_114.shtml

But it does save a bit of cash. Not as much as saving on heating of course.

 

[big-all]

things i always unplug at every opportunity are
...
vhs recorder
...

You still have a VHS recorder? Those things went out with the ark!

(Actually, so do I. I still have dozens of VHS tapes that I may copy to DVD.)

mostly well only for "adult entertainment " much easier than turning pages