How Standby Power Can Reduce Your Electricity Bill
Many appliances and electronic products – ranging from air conditioners to DVD players to TV lifts – cannot be entirely powered down without unplugging them or turning off the power supply at the outlet. These products use small amounts of electricity even when not actively being used. This power consumption is referred to as “standby power.”
Although individual products generally utilise a very small amount of standby power, a typical Australian home often has in excess of 30 different products using standby power at any given time. Over a billing cycle, standby power can account for 5 – 10 percent of a household’s total power consumption. On a global scale, it is believed that standby power is responsible for roughly 1% of worldwide C02 emissions.
There are, however, actions you can take that have a direct impact on your home or business’ standby power consumption. Taking the example of height adjustable desks, this calculator shows you your current standby power consumption and how much it could be reduced by using specialized standby power reduction technology.
Additional tips for reducing standby power consumption
– Plug electronic appliance into power strips and turn off the strip when no products are in use.
– Get into the habit of eliminating standby power consumption by unplugging electronic products or turning off the outlet’s power.
– Invest in an inexpensive watt meter, which will allow to measure the standby power consumption of specific products and take targeted action.
Unfortunately, in some situations, it’s simply not feasible to switch off the power to a particular product. In such cases it is wise to look for electronics powered by technology, such as Zero™ technology by Linak that significantly reduces power consumption, greenhouse gases and power bills
