Tip #11: Gadget Energy Management
Budget: $0 to $40
Time required: 30 seconds to 5 minutes
Estimated Impact: $5 to $100 a year, maybe more.
Tip: You might not know this, but gadgets that are on standby mode use typically between 10% to 50% of the energy they use when fully switched on! That’s a considerable amount of energy for something that is just not being used.
There are several ways to make it as easy as possible to switch devices. Clearly you don’t want to spend ages switching all your gadgets off, so here’s two simple tricks you can use to make it really easy.
If you have a TV with a digital TV receiver, or video player, or DVD player, or surround sound unit, or a satellite TV kit, or even a combination of them, that’s a lot of devices that could end up being left on standby. Here’s the trick, plug all of the gadgets onto a single power strip (one of those multi-way extension leads). Then you can just switch off all the devices at the socket where the extension lead is plugged in. These extension strips are so cheap these days, costing less than $8 or £4 usually.
If you’re really lazy or want to make it even easier, look for something like a standby saver. These standby savers have a primary socket that you typically plug the TV in to. When you switch the TV off on to standby, it switches all of the devices off completely. When you switch the TV on again, it automatically powers on all your other gadgets. Easy huh?
This tip was written by Daniel Harrison who just loves his eco friendly gadgets and has his own site where you can get eco friendly tips daily.
