Have you imagined why your electricity bill is so high? Have you also imagined why your prepaid metre credit load doesn’t last as long as your neighbour’s own when you obviously use equivalent home appliances?
Truth is, when you turn off your electronics, they could still be wasting electricity. The reason is that many electronics like televisions, fridges, phones, laptops, dishwashers, dryers, heaters, air conditioners etc, go into sleep mode when you press the off switch. For example, a television is in sleep or standby mode when it is plugged in, but turned off. So are other devices.
Most experts agree that standby power is electricity used by appliances and equipment while they are switched off or not performing their primary functions.
Standby power use is also caused by circuits that continue to be energized when the device is off. As true as it may be, almost any product with an external power supply, remote control (or soft-button power button), continuous display(including LED), or charges batteries will draw power continuously when it’s still plugged in. This is called Standby power or phantom load, and the heat energy is called Vampire energy or leaking energy.
How to reduce standby power in your home
1. If you aren’t frequently using a device, unplug it.
2. Use a switchable power strip (extension box in some countries) for clusters of computers or video products. That way you can switch everything to zero with one action
3. Buy a low-cost watt meter, measure the power consumption of the devices in your home and take actions.
