You’re heading for bed and turn off the lights – is the room dark? Those twinkly stand-by indicators might look insignificant but each one is a sign that something is slowly eating into your bank balance and upping your carbon footprint. The winter months are the ideal time to stand up to the stand-by vampires – Severn Wye’s energy experts unpack the problem.
Stand by: what does standby mean?
A device in standby mode may look shut down – but it’s only sleeping. It’s in energy-saving mode – and that’s great if you’re stepping away for a few minutes as it’ll power back up quickly. But don’t be fooled: the watts are still ticking over. This is sometimes called ‘vampire power’ and for good reason; it’s mostly active at night and slowly drains away your energy. There are legal limits to the amount of energy appliances and devices can use in standby mode; nevertheless, The Energy Saving Trust estimates the average British household could save up to £45 a year by switching standby firmly off.
World wide web of waste
Gadgets connected to the internet are some of the worst offenders when it comes to vampire energy; games consoles for example can detect software updates while they snooze and they use – wait for it – 50 times more energy on standby than a TV. You’ll even be paying to keep loud speakers plugged in, and This is Money also estimates it costs around £1.44 to power a digital radio on standby for a year.
It’s also worth knowing that a single internet query using AI uses 10 times more energy (at least) than using a regular search engine. You might not see that on your bill, but it adds up to a huge cost for the whole planet.
Leading the charge
Most of us are probably guilty of leaving our phone on charge for too long, or even overnight. Don’t do it. Even when fully charged, while your phone is plugged in that charger is still using energy. You probably don’t need to plug it in for more than an hour and for some fast-charging models, even less.
While phones and watches are obvious contenders for this one, keep an eye on electric toothbrushes, shavers and similar too.
Screening out inefficiencies
Chances are there’s at least one computer in your household and they don’t often travel alone – likely there’s a printer, scanner, or speakers attached. Set your computer to go into sleep or hibernation mode if left unattended for more than five minutes (and work out how to do it manually). Then read on for some simple ways to make sure no device gets left behind.
If you can’t stand the heat…
The heart of the home is also home to some of the worst culprits when it comes to vampire energy. Turn off the microwave and even the oven when you don’t need them – do you really need two more appliances telling you the (wrong) time? Anything with an LED readout takes power to run.
Bedtime hygiene – some solutions
You probably know or guessed most of the detail above already. But while the heart may be willing, when so many appliances are plugged in behind sofas and tables, actually doing the rounds at bedtime can feel like a faff too far.
Happily, there are some straightforward ways to help build better habits.
- Extension leads; kind of obvious, but with a bunch of appliances plugged in together you just have to limbo down to one switch in the evening, not five.
- Standby savers – also called energy-saving plugs – plug in between your appliance and the socket, and when activated (by remote control) they stop power from reaching the appliance.
- Power-down plugs used with computers and televisions will automatically switch off ‘peripheral’ devices like printers, scanners, and DVD players. Then you just need to remember to switch-off your computer or TV. Check before buying that devices are suitable for a laptop, if that’s what you use.
- An alternative is a one-click panel, which accommodates the plugs for a bunch of devices and works by monitoring the power needs of the main one (again typically your computer or TV) and will turn off any peripherals when that main device isn’t in use.
- Particularly for home-workers, a 24-hour timer could be a good option – a different way of making sure everything is turned off automatically out of working hours (and will help make sure you stick to your work/life balance too).
- Whatever the appliance, if switching off isn’t an option, check for an ‘energy saving mode’ which will put it as close as possible into shut-down without actually turning it off.
Keep on keeping on
Remember there are some appliances that have to be kept on. Fridges and freezers are obvious examples, but turning your internet router off at night, though it will save power, is unlikely to add joy to your mornings.
And remember to regularly check for software updates on internet-enabled devices like smart TVs, which will miss out on automatic updates when they’re turned off overnight.
Pennies turning into pounds
It comes down to that old favourite: save your pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves. It’s true for carbon too. So while these small savings won’t fund a spring break or prevent climate change, our individual efforts add up to something undeniably worthwhile.
Smarten up
OK smart meters are plugged in all the time (and in 2022 the in-home display cost around £1 to run for a year), but they can really help you save. Seeing in real time how much energy you’re using is a great incentive to turn things off and work out which devices are the biggest consumers. And when you think you’ve turned off everything you can, if the meter’s still showing consumption you can look around for what you’ve missed.
A 2023 report by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero found that households use about 2.3% less electricity (and 1.5% less gas on average) with a smart meter.
Last word
Though appliances are becoming more efficient all the time, we are buying and using ever more of them. So the biggest savings could come from asking ourselves some hard questions about how much stuff we really need.
