Haste Makes Waste

Your parents always taught you not to waste. Wake up early, don’t waste your day. Finish that food on your plate—there are starving children in Africa. Live within your means, don’t spend $200 on a trucker hat just because it says Von Dutch on it.

And we all know in the “green” arena that waste is bad, but what is the worst waste? Surprisingly one of the largest wastes of energy happens in our own homes. It’s called Standby Power—(creepily aliasing as Vampire Power) which is the energy and electricity consumed by an appliance during the lowest possible electricity consuming mode.

Here’s what we never thought about before: Almost every appliance in your home from your TV to your computer to your espresso machine STILL USES ELECTRICITY when it is in standby power mode—that is, plugged in but not in use. The truth of it is, our appliances are not that “smart” so whether it is in use or not, if it is plugged in, it “thinks” it’s being used. So, when your appliance plugged in but are not heating, blending or computing for you, they are still sucking down energy (and sometimes just as much as when it’s on).

In the U.S. alone, residential consumers (i.e., YOU) spend over 4 billion dollars per year on standby power alone. Estimates indicate that standby power in the U.S. can account for 5%-8% of a home’s electricity use. In the 15 countries of the EU in 2000, the total energy lost to standby in households was estimated at 94 billion kWh—the equivalent of 12 large nuclear or coal power plants.

But if you stop leaving your appliances on stand-by, and start unplugging them, you could save up to 1,000 pounds of Carbon Dioxide and a few hundred bucks to boot.

First things first-

* UNPLUG your cell phone charger when not in use! Your charger is consuming energy even when your cell is not attached to it. Recent Environmental Protection Agency estimates indicate that there are 1 billion cell phone chargers in the U.S., and predicts that number will grow. In January, Energy Star began a major campaign to make chargers more efficient. By doing this, the EPA believes it can save more than 1 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions, equal to that spewed by 150,000 cars. Until you get that Energy Star charger, though (and even after), make sure when you’re done charging your phone, you take the charger out of the wall…if you change just one thing this week, THIS should be it.

* Unplug your appliances when not in use. Or at least get in the habit of unplugging them at night. Here are some of the top culprits: Computer, Printer, Internet Terminal, Scanner, Fax Machine, Copy Machine, Telephone, and Shredder. Refrigerator, Oven, Microwave, Toaster, Coffeemaker, Bread Machine, Artisan Stand Mixer, DVD players, Cable Boxes, Stereo Systems, Gaming Consoles. (Yes, everything plugged in and not in use is wasting energy.)

* Use a Power strip. In a room with a variety of appliances and electronics (like your office or media room), plug a bunch of them into a power strip. Then you can cut off all the devices at once. The Power Strip. Use one large power strip for your computer, broadband modem, scanner, printer, monitor, and speakers. Switch it off when equipment is not in use and cut out 200 kWh/y or more of standby losses.

Now we always felt awful when we wasted the ends of our dinners as children and thought of all the starving children in Africa who apparently really liked soggy broccoli and peas. If you also felt this guilt, unplug your cell phone charger, toaster and fax machine you never use and let the pride and satisfaction wash over you.

P.S.-In the coming weeks we will go over all the rooms in your house and show you how to be more energy efficient.