Turn Off Those Gadgets to Save Electricity
Canada Green Tips – Just about every North America home these days has several electronic devices that stay on all the time. We’re talking about cell phones, laptops, computer monitors, modems, flat screen tvs, wireless phones, ipods, game consoles, clocks, etc., etc. Just twenty years ago a typical household in the US had a whopping total of three such gadgets. Today it’s more like twenty-five.
And in case you didn’t know it, they all use electricity. These days this type of household electronic gadget or appliance accounts for about 15% of total household electricity usage.
In the 1950s and 60s larger appliances like washing machines, self-cleaning ovens, dish washers and vacuum cleaners were referred to as “labor saving devices”. Their job was to make it much easier to do basic household tasks. Today’s gadgets tend to be entertainment or communication devices. Usually they are left on all the time, while they each use small amounts of electricity 24/7.
Many concerned researchers predict that over the next twenty years the demand for electricity to run our gadgets is going to triple. Without energy saving measures put into place that will require about 560 coal or gas fired power plants or as many as 230 nuclear plants. Something has to give.
One way to save energy on these devices in your home is to shut them off when they are not being used. In the past many devices had things stored in memory which they lost when they were turned off. However this is changing.
Some devices – like telephones for instance – have to remain in an instant-on or semi-dormant state be ready to receive incoming calls. But others like computer monitors and game consoles can be shut off with no loss of functionality. Many of us tend to just leave them on. We do that either because we don’t want to wait for them to boot up, or because someone told us it is less stressful on the system to be left on.
That may have been a useful strategy at one time, but almost never is the case any more. Every computer in United States has a power saving program built right in to the operating system. Set it up properly, or simply shut the computer down between uses.
Another idea is to buy smart power strips that turn themselves off when the devices plugged into them are not in use. That’s a good way to cut the consumption from those devices to zero when they aren’t being used.
Many homes could gain from having a “device audit” done on our homes. All that means is taking a close look at all the devices you have running too much of the time, and eliminating some of that unnecessary usage. You can do that either by replacing the items or devising strategies for turning them off when not in use.
Copyright AgentMapIt
blogeasy :: Mar.11.2010 :: green tips :: No Comments »
