Turn your appliances off at the wall The most effective way to reduce the amount of standby power you use is to turn your devices and appliances off at the wall when you've finished using them.
You should note that your energy costs can vary greatly depending on where you live and your individual usage. If your appliance has a higher or lower power rating then that will also affect your energy costs. To save cash, watch less and make sure you turn off your television at the plug when you're not using it.
If you're wondering, “How much power does a TV use?” there are a number of factors to consider. The average TV watts are 58.6 watts when switched on and just 1.3 watts in standby mode. Understandably, there's a big difference between what TVs consume per year.
Ideally yes you should turn off certain appliances at the socket when not in use. If the wall socket doesn't have an on off switch it would need to be unplugged instead. Electricity still runs inside an appliance even if it's switched off.
You would be shocked by how many appliances continue to use electricity even after they've been switched off. Any appliance with an LCD, light, or clock, such as your DVD or DVR player, cable box, television, or microwave, consumes electricity even when turned off.
Unplugging Your Devices Is the Easiest Way to Use Less Energy. If you'd like to save on electricity, there are many ways that this can be achieved. Switching to more energy-efficient appliances is arguably the most effective, but turning things off when not in use is also worth doing.
Coffee makers, food processors, microwaves, and the like are easy to unplug but not so easy on the power grid. See the digital clock on your coffee maker and microwave? That clock means it's using energy. So if you don't need to know the time at opposite ends of the counter, go ahead and unplug.
If you leave a device plugged in and switched on, it will use electricity even if the device isn't actually in use. This is why experts advise you to switch off the object at the plug socket, so electrical current is unable to flow through.
How Much Power Does Your TV Consume? On average, a TV consumes 108 kilowatts of energy in a year when smart wake features are disabled. That said, this number increases to 191 kilowatts when smart features are enabled—increasing power consumption by 76.8 percent.
The average American watches four hours of television a day. Over the span of an entire year, that adds up to over two months of viewing. If you have an HDTV over 40 inches and are tuning in at the same rate as the US average, your television may be using about 341 kWh a year and costing you $41 annually.
Fire Risk. One of the biggest dangers of leaving your phone charger plugged in is the risk of fire. If your charger overheats, it could potentially catch something on fire. This is especially dangerous if you leave your charger plugged in overnight, as you may not be around to notice if there is a fire.
It's Safer – A Little Bit. It actually is safer to unplug your TV at night, but that'snot to say that leaving the TV plugged on and on standby is unsafe. How much safer it is all depends on your set up.
Here's a breakdown of the biggest energy use categories in the typical home: Air conditioning and heating: 46 percent. Water heating: 14 percent. Appliances: 13 percent.
Safety first. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recommends unplugging electrical devices when not in use, predicated on the obvious but nevertheless correct observation that something unplugged can't start fires or shock someone.
The average home has dozens of items plugged in at any given time. What's more, 75 per cent of the electricity these devices consume is used when they aren't even on. That's a lot of energy. In fact, all that phantom power can add up to 10 per cent of a home's energy costs.
It's a good idea to unplug your TV at night to avoid any electrical surges damaging your equipment. You can also sleep easy knowing your TV is safe should a lightning storm hit in the middle of the night. However, it's not completely necessary. So, don't worry if you've been leaving your TV plugged in overnight.
A new TV may use 32W to 90W of power, depending on its size. At 60W, running the TV for 12 hours a day would cost you $2.60 month if your electricity costs 12 cents per kWh.
CHOICE verdict. The short answer: Yes, it's a good idea to switch off appliances at the wall when they're not in use and when you go on holiday. It's not going to make you rich, but it will save you money – and it's better for the environment.