How much power are we gonna eat for our stupid conveniences?

Saw this interesting article on BBC. Basically, the article talks about how much energy inefficient we are.

The article looks at very simple thing, "electronics on stand by". Well, we never thought about it, right? We just keep our computer, VCR, DVD, TV on standby so that we can switch them on using remote in an "instant". But how much power do we consume doing that? Just to give you a perspective from the data in the article.

"Figures from the Energy Saving Trust on standby power use in the UK home are astonishing:

• Stereos on standby cost £290m and produce 1.6 million tonnes of CO2
• VCRs and DVD cost £263m and produce 1.06 million tonnes of CO2
• TVs on standby cost £88m and produce 480,000 tonnes of CO2"

This number clearly shows how much we are harming our environment for our stupid conveniences. Conveniences are good, that makes life easier, but at this cost??

In my apartment, there is no switch for the plug points i.e. I have to pull the power plug to diconnet the device. I think that is becoming pretty much the standard. However, we should have a switch to disconnet the devices. Here is an article on similar lines, which say that Britons waste the equivament of around two power stantions worth of electricity by leaving TV sets and other gadgets on standby.

What I am really concerned about is that the article talk about a very normal and small issue which has big impacts, and we are gonna forget about it as soon as we see another interesting news. My reason for blogging about it is to highlight the issue more, so that a few more people can think about it.

What we should do right now?

1. Never leave your computer with Monitor "ON" or screensavers running.

2. Shut down your computer when you are going to sleep, unless you have some program running or you are waiting for the irritating sound from the instant messenger to wake you up.

3. Connect your devices like TV, VCR, and DVD from a surge protector or extension board with a power switch, so that you can switch these devices off with only one click.

4. In colleges, we cannot switch the computers off (due to whatever reason), make sure to switch off the monitor.

It our duty to contribute our small part, our small effort to make environment better and survivable for future generations., Lets not ruin it for our petty small conveniences.

Cheers,
Anurag

Category: General/Random