Energy
Standby Power Is a Real Line on Your Bill — Just Smaller Than Claimed
Standby typically accounts for 2-5% of household electricity now, concentrated in a handful of specific devices.
Regulations in the EU, UK, and US have pushed most consumer electronics to under one watt on standby. A phone charger left plugged in with nothing attached now draws a negligible amount. The 'unplug everything' advice was written for a different generation of hardware.
The exceptions are worth finding: set-top boxes and DVRs that stay partly awake, games consoles in instant-on mode, older AV amplifiers, and always-on desktop PCs. A cheap plug-in power meter identifies the two or three devices that actually matter in an evening.
Put this into practice
- Energy Savings CalculatorWill this upgrade pay for itself?
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