Stand By to be Shocked

It may be no shock to realise that standby costs money. However you may be shocked to know that with some products it can be as much as 100% of the electricity used when in use (especially set top boxes & games consoles). According to varying statistics each year in the UK, £750m - £1500m is spent on stand by power (£25 - £50 per household per year), about 10% of all power consumption. In addition accounting for a huge amounts of carbon emissions.

Estimated annual CO2 emissions from devices left on standby:

• Stereos - 1,600,000 tonnes
• Videos - 960,000 tonnes
• TVs - 480,000 tonnes
• Consoles - 390,000 tonnes
• DVD players - 100,000 tonnes
• Set-top boxes - 60,000 tonnes

Source: Energy Saving Trust

Is there a solution? ... Other than us physically turning items off when not in use, there does appear to be one solution posed by Peter Ensinger and David Baker, who recently pitched their product, the Standby Saver on the BBC 2 television show "Dragon's Den". The product is available online for £24.99. It should take approximately one year for the Standby Saver to pay for itself

If you want to know how many watts an appliance uses on standby, visit Energy Star.

Tips for Energy Saving;

• Turn appliances off at mains when not in use
• If charging appliances, unplug the charger when finished (some use power when not charging)