Non-motoring > Power usage Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Bobby Replies: 15

 Power usage - Bobby
At our place we have a crackdown on unnecessary use of power.

Latest is making sure PC monitors are switched off overnight and not left on standby with the little LED light on. The power also needs to be pulled from the DAB radio I have on my desk as it has an LCD screen on it that is lit up all the time.

This is the same building that people boil full kettles at a time and after use refill the kettle for the next person to then boil a full kettle for one cups worth.

So any clever folk out there able to give me comparisons as to the relevant costs of leaving a monitor on standby overnight / a dab radio LCD screen to be lit / compared to boiling a full kettle from scratch?
 Power usage - Pat
Time to invest in one of these Bobby

tinyurl.com/y84zav3d

Pat
 Power usage - Zero
No, time to invest inn one of these

www.amazon.co.uk/Nashone-Accuracy-Digital-Monitor-Backlight/dp/B072MGZJQT

link corrected
Last edited by: VxFan on Thu 8 Feb 18 at 12:40
 Power usage - CGNorwich
we have gone the opposite way and gone retro.

Not having an overlarge kitchen an a bit short of worktop space we have got rid of as much clutter as possible. The electric kettle has gone and we now just have a small whistling kettle that lives on top of the gas hob. Being slower than an electric kettle it encourages you to only boil what you want. Works fine for us
 Power usage - Lygonos
+1 on the whistling kettle.

Initially sheer laziness after the leccy one went pop - got my 40+ yr old one I used to take camping down, and now no desire to back to electric.

We also appear to modulate the amount of water automatically as CGN notes.

Last edited by: Lygonos on Thu 8 Feb 18 at 11:59
 Power usage - smokie
In the summer when I've been here alone I sometimes use the travel kettle for brews. Not only is it smaller and therefore I'm less likely to overfill it, but also the wattage is such that it will be free electricity if it's a half decent generation day on the solar panels. It does take longer but I'm not usually in a rush these days!! Oh, and this week they are installing water meters so less waste will help there too!!

Here's a few links which weren't hard to find... (not all UK or recent but all are relevant)

www.thegreenage.co.uk/the-cost-of-leaving-appliances-in-standby-mode/

www.digitalspy.com/tech/television/feature/a797305/how-much-does-leaving-my-tv-on-standby-mode-actually-cost-the-answer-might-well-surprise-you/

www.energuide.be/en/questions-answers/how-much-energy-do-my-household-appliances-use/71/

www.npower.com/blog/2013/02/01/how-much-appliances-cost-to-run/
 Power usage - car4play
I had 3 of these Pat but from Andrew James and they have all failed now. So not a very good saving.
Admittedly I only bought one and the rest were simply because they would only replace and not credit.
 Power usage - RichardW
2 litres of Water from 10 - 100C = 2*4.2*90 = 756kJ = 0.2 kWh.

Say a monitor is 2W on standby. Overnight (12 hours say) it will use 0.024 kWh. So about 8 monitors on standby overnight will use about the same amount of power as boiling one kettle full of water.
 Power usage - Zero
>> 2 litres of Water from 10 - 100C = 2*4.2*90 = 756kJ = 0.2 kWh.
>>
>> Say a monitor is 2W on standby.

I'd change your monitor, mine uses 300 milliamps
 Power usage - No FM2R
Try this....

standby.lbl.gov/summary-table.html

It's from California, but still useful I should think.
 Power usage - Zero
Fir Europe, this is more pertinent

ec.europa.eu/energy/en/topics/energy-efficiency/energy-efficient-products/standby
 Power usage - car4play
>> 0.2 kWh

and so the cost is approx 2p a day or 60p a month, £7 a year

Maybe not worth the hassle?
 Power usage - The Melting Snowman
>> Maybe not worth the hassle?
>>

No, but for some people focusing on the trivial becomes an obsession. My old deceased Aunt (a millionaire several times over) would walk up and down the high street in Oxford hunting out the shop with the cheapest fruit and veg. Meanwhile she would have a new car sitting in her garage depreciating and it was hardly ever used.
 Power usage - Roger.
I like our incredibly quick leccy kettle.It sits on a fancy base station and one can heat water to one of three pre-set temperatures. It has a keep warm function and beeps at us when the water boils.
It's a Bosch, 3 KW and no doubt uses lots of power, but I don't care
 Power usage - Falkirk Bairn
I used to burn 4,500KW per year- fairly constant over 20+ years.

The 3 children left home at 21-23 years old.

Average since then 2,500KW per year.
 Power usage - Cliff Pope
Our kettle sits on standby at the cool end of the hotplate. When we want to boil it we move it onto the hot end, and it usually boils within a few seconds.
Energy useage - probably about 1 log per kettle = 1 pot of tea.
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