Standby
Standby power can account for up to 10% of household electricity consumption, or over $100 per year on bills. Home entertainment and home office appliances, such as TVs and computers, are the main source of standby power consumption.
Due to improved design, newer appliances generally consume less energy on standby mode. However, the number of appliances in our homes that consume standby power is increasing - estimated to be up by 30% since 2000.
Take the following steps to reduce standby consumption.
- Switch appliances off after use to eliminate most standby power
- Switch appliances off at the wall to eliminate standby power completely. It is not a good idea to switch appliances off at the wall where program settings will be erased, such as DVD players
- For appliances with a remote control, such as TVs, switch them off at the power button rather than with the remote
- Consider purchasing a special purpose power board that will eliminate standby power consumption for several appliances with a single switch. These are well suited for home office appliances or entertainment units.
Televisions
Household energy consumption of televisions is increasing due to a shift to bigger screens, more usage and a higher number of televisions per home. Big screen LCD and plasma TVs can use up to four times as much power as a standard sized TV, adding as much as $100 a year to energy bills. New energy efficient models of LCD televisions with LED lighting technology are also available but are more expensive than standard LCD TVs for the same size screen.
A new television energy star labelling scheme has been introduced to enable buyers to identify the most energy efficient models at the point of sale. The television energy label is similar to the energy label used on fridges, washing machines, clothes dryers and air conditioners. This will help people save energy, money and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Reading the label is easy – more stars means the more energy efficient the model is compared to others with the same screen size. The estimated annual kilowatt hour (kWh) electricity consumption is also provided – and the lower this number is the better.
Home office
Try these energy saving tips to reduce your home office running costs.
- Look for Energy Star compliant equipment and be sure to set the energy saving features for your usage patterns
- If possible, use a laptop computer as they use less energy than desktop computers
- Program the computer to have a blank screen when idle as screensavers will not reduce energy use of computer monitors
- Switch off computers and other appliances such as printers, speakers and scanners at the end of your working day.