Experts have long encouraged us to turn our appliances off at the power point in order to save standby power. Standby power is consumed by an appliance when it is plugged in but not in use. Many appliances use power to maintain a convenient ‘ready’ state and usually have a glowing light, clock or respond to a remote. A typical home would have a television, DVD player, stereo and microwave that, if left in standby mode are drawing power constantly. This in turn drives up greenhouse gas emissions as well as electricity bills. But which appliances are the biggest power suckers? Good Magazine produced this Vampire Energy diagram. Clearly the plasma TV wins the fang award. In many a living room, you’ll find the TV, DVD & game consoles powered by a snake pit of dusty cords and power boards behind the TV bench all connecting to one or maybe two wall points. So with the flick of a single switch you can stake several energy vampires at once. But what about the fifteen different clocks positioned around the living room, kitchen and bedroom? Almost every electrical appliance now features a digital clock and turning it off at the source … Continue reading Vampire Energy