[stav]

alll the powered appliances in my house are on power strips.. (the anti surge kind)surely everyone uses them?

[mollyL]

Originally Posted by horselover

Yikes, good to know.

But I can't unplug everything, I can't get at it all.

LOL, that's the same in my case! I tried to turn our bedroom stereo off of standby, and managed to follow the cord all the way to behind a humongous bookcase. I did manage to switch off a multiple-plug extension cord and I feel very righteous...

[GreenTomThumb]

Originally Posted by mollyL

LOL, that's the same in my case! I tried to turn our bedroom stereo off of standby, and managed to follow the cord all the way to behind a humongous bookcase. I did manage to switch off a multiple-plug extension cord and I feel very righteous...

Glad to see you could follow a cord!

[ecofuse]

Originally Posted by mtrent

Turning your appliances off does not keep them from using electricity. In fact most suck up juice while simply sitting in one of two standby modes: active, which could be a set-top DVR box programmed to record) or passive, which could be a rechargeable toothbrush resting in its base.

To save on the rising cost of your electric bill you could use a power strip cord that would allow you to shut devices completely off when not in use.

Certain devices to target with an annual standby kilowatt hour consumption:
RECHARGEABLE TOOTHBRUSH----12.3 RADIO---13.1
LCD COMPUTER MONITOR---22.8 DVD PLAYER ---78.8
CORDLESS PHONE BASE---28.9 MICROWAVE---35.1
LASER PRINTER---113.1 VCR PLAYER---92.2
LAPTOP---144.5 COMPUTER---311.4
GAMING CONSOLE---233.9 PLASMA TV---1452.4

Turning up our A/C has been huge for us. Four degrees knocked our electric bill down significantly

[justontime]

That list of things that use a lot of power while on standby has set me thinking. A number of those things are totally unnecessary in the first place. I am going to have a rethink about what we actually need.