Those smart outlets consume power. It may be less than the appliance's standby power, but it is there.
What's smart about a dumb old rocker switch? Press for on, press for off.
Posted on 01/04/2012 5:03:08 AM PST by DemforBush
Unplugging each and every appliance and device not in use can be a pain, but it's something you must do if you don't want to pay for standby power — or the energy consumed by electronics while they're switched off. Right now you can use a power strip to make unplugging easier, but if PumPing Tap's designers ever bring their product to market, you don't have to worry about unplugging at all...
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Yes but in the summer it raises your cooling cost so there is no gain there at all.
HEY ENVIRO-JERKOFFS!!!!!
Its MY electricity! I pay for it!
Don’t tell me how much I can use or waste!
It all added up when I tested the usage and wrote it down. I've since
moved but I still like ele bills under 100 bucks.
Just your TV set top can use up to 52w while inactive. It may not be worth cutting the electric bill for some; others may prefer to spend less. Around here we pay $0.14/kwh so it does add up. For me that one Dish Network box is $62 per year. Plus the TV. Plus the Wii. Plus the DVD player. Plus the modem and router.
“You might be surprised how much power a toaster uses just being plugged in.”
How so? Turning it off disables the circuit. It has no clock or anything else drawing current.
My basic set top box (no DVR) draws about 15 watts. My power is expensive, but per month, that device costs me less than $2 to have on all the time, and I don’t have to wait a half hour for it to fully reload before using it (as I would if it was turned off).
That’s a drop in the bucket compared to what I pay Comcrap for the joy of having it.
I should have said $2 per month.
That's .00728 cents and we will have to spend how much to save it? I'm conservative in more ways than politics, my electric bill was $65 last month. I turn off lights when I'm not in the room, I hang clothes on the line, when I turn something on, etc.
Those smart outlets consume power. It may be less than the appliance's standby power, but it is there.
What's smart about a dumb old rocker switch? Press for on, press for off.
In NJ cooling is needed less than 20% of the year so standby power heating helps more than it hurts. Many of these energy saving calculations are accurate only for southern climates.
Do you mean “turn off the breaker” to wall plug? That would not be a good idea as it will prematurely damage the breaker and the breaker probably is overload protection for several receptacle together.
“That 10% number might be right if you have a gas stove, gas dryer, gas hot water heater, and gas heat.”
Again, HOW so? What data are you using to make such a speculation?
I am with you. There is NO way standby power consumption is 10%.
LED = Little Electronic Doohicky
Not the breaker, a switch. Just saying that physically unplugging the device is a primitive solution.
Naturally, they’ve anticipated that. They’ll pass a LAW requiring them, in addition the thousands of other absurdities foisted on everyone in the last 80 years or so.
At one time (pre FDR, perhaps) Washington was at least honest enough (if stupid) to realize that they, and the states, had to amend the constitution of the U.S.A. in order to ban liquor, wine, and beer.
Today? Heck, light bulbs, shower heads, toilets, smoking in bars, the Easter Bunny, no matter.
10%?
Not a chance. A tenth of a percent? Yes. Currently (no pun intended, and probably only until the collectivists find out) electricity at the residential level is often less expensive after a certain number of kilowatt hours is consumed.
There are tons of appliances that ‘vampire’ power while in the ‘off’ mode. VCR’s used to be major culprits, but ‘set-top’ boxes are a common user of power. Microwave ovens, stereos, computers and monitors in ‘sleep’ mode, etc.
That all being said, a mechanical ejection device for a plug? The only way that’s going to be a marketplace hit is if the thing is forced on us by Obamulan the Fascist and Big Sis.
I don’t want to hijack a thread here, but has anyone noticed that nobody’s using the ‘F’ word, even though you’ve had a rapid spawn of government controlled companies in the last five years? From the banks and insurance companies in 2008, to GM, Chrysler, and then Solyndra, et. al.
It’s the very definition of the word fascism - state controlled enterprises.
I just checked our toaster with the Kill-A-Watt.
When OFF it consumes zero current. Nothing. I am not surprised.
It’s a Sunbeam, from the 1950s (no more crap appliances in this household)
It was high-tech for the time. There’s no lever, the weight of the bread installed sends it down the slot for toasting. I suspect Toast itself will have to be marginalized and demonized in society, as their simply is no “green” method of making it, e.g. Microwave, Windmills, Rainbows, etc.
I mean really. Think of the carbon footprint - the fossil fuels - the infrastructure required, the strip mining, the dead Unicorns required - just to darken a piece bread sufficiently to spread butter and jam around on it.
No! This HAS GOT TO STOP!!
What I’m saying, indirectly, is that if all of your heavy energy loads are gas rather than electric, then the standby load of remaining electrical appliances and devices does come a lot closer to this alleged 10% number.
As soon as you run a load of wash through your electric dryer, that 10% number goes out the window. Same for the summer months with A/C running.
The standby load of my computer and peripherals, and my entertainment stuff is less that 100 watts, and maybe 250 watts when all the stuff is running. Apart from my electric range and dryer, all that’s left is the fridge, and lighting (assuming real light bulbs). On average, that stuff might well put me up to around 1000 watts, and probably not even that much.
Regardless of the actual number, the actual cost of this standby load is basically not enough to worry about.
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