Countering leaking electricity consumption is made to occur by way of a logical step-by-step plan.
A lot of electrical appliances continue to consume power even when you are not using them. Examples include the modem, the TV set which a lot of us set to stand-by for the sake of convenience, chargers for smartphones or electrical toothbrushes that are simply left in the wall socket for the same reason.
This needless power consumption is referred to as leaking electricity consumption or stand-by consumption. In a lot of cases we are talking about low-level consumption. Yet when you've got a few stand-by and off-mode power consumers around the house, your total consumption can quickly mount up. Every Watt lost in leaking electricity consumption per hour costs you 2 euros per year. So there's a lot of potential to save on electricity.
If you are off to locate the stand-by and off-mode power consumers around your home, be sure to first check the following appliances. They make up the top 5 of the biggest stand-by and off-mode power consumers:
Computer with peripherals | 33 euros per year |
TV set with set-top box or DVD player | 15 euros per year |
Coffee machine | 6 euros per year |
Hifi system | euros per year |
Oven with digital clock | 4 euros per year |
Just this top 5 represents a total consumption of 64 euros per year.
How to detect leaking electricity consumption? Simple, by using an energy meter. This small device will set you back as little as 10 to 15 euros.
Simply plug it into the wall socket and then connect the appliance you want to meter. The energy meter will show the consumption in real time. In addition, it will give you the appliance's total power consumption over the measured time period.
It's a good idea to meter the appliance throughout the night for instance, when it's on stand-by. Then multiply the leaking power consumption by 365 and again by the electricity rate and you know exactly how much the stand-by consumption of that particular appliance costs you on an annual basis. Alongside the top 5, it's also worth testing the adapters of a number of appliances.
Once you've located the stand-by and off-mode power consumers, the next step is to put a stop to their pointless consumption of electricity. You can do so by adopting any one of several methods:
(See also: 'How much energy do my household appliances use?' & 'How can I calculate the consumption of an electrical appliance?')
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