29 replies to this topic

[dkramarczyk]

I love how so many places now have energy efficient TVs. TV is one of those things that almost everyone uses and so it's great that there are ways that you can still save on energy with them. Especially for those people that use their television a lot. I know that my family uses their TVs a lot, which is why it's great that they are all energy efficient. I'm wondering how many other people decided to save by getting energy efficient TVs.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

dkramarczyk, on 31 March 2012 - 03:08 AM, said:

I love how so many places now have energy efficient TVs. TV is one of those things that almost everyone uses and so it's great that there are ways that you can still save on energy with them. Especially for those people that use their television a lot. I know that my family uses their TVs a lot, which is why it's great that they are all energy efficient. I'm wondering how many other people decided to save by getting energy efficient TVs.

I would venture to say that most (if not all) of the newer ones are.
For older models, power strips are essential. It may take a minute or two when you turn it back on, but
the savings are worth the wait.
Strips not only shuts off the tv-but tivo-dvd players-recorders-all of the devices you have plugged into it. Burns less coal
and saves money too.
Just put it in a place that you don't have to struggle with shutting off the switch, and you'll shut it off every time.

[encryptedbytes]

Energy efficient appliances are great, but what really saves energy is shutting them off when they are not needed. So many people leave their television running all day whether anyone is actually watching it not or they're fire up a big 40 or 50 inch television to just play music. I get that you need the screen on to get the music going, but once you're set turn that screen off already!

[btatro]

encryptedbytes, on 31 March 2012 - 08:15 AM, said:

Energy efficient appliances are great, but what really saves energy is shutting them off when they are not needed. So many people leave their television running all day whether anyone is actually watching it not or they're fire up a big 40 or 50 inch television to just play music. I get that you need the screen on to get the music going, but once you're set turn that screen off already!

I would have to add unplugging, also. The TV that is off, but shows an orange glowing light, is still consuming electricity. I unplug everything I can (that is also practical) when it is not in use. This includes a lot of kitchen appliances, lamps, and also the TV.

[Hardison]

I never really thought about it. I have energy saving appliances, but I never unplug them. I suppose everything helps.

[dkramarczyk]

I've heard about unplugging appliances when they are not in use. Does that really help though? I've never tried it but I'm debating about it. A lot of green activities seem like a pain in the butt. Don't get me wrong, I want to do everything I can to help the planet, but why do they always have to be so much more difficult then the alternatives?

[Shortpoet-GTD]

dkramarczyk, on 31 March 2012 - 11:33 PM, said:

I've heard about unplugging appliances when they are not in use. Does that really help though? I've never tried it but I'm debating about it. A lot of green activities seem like a pain in the butt. Don't get me wrong, I want to do everything I can to help the planet, but why do they always have to be so much more difficult then the alternatives?

Pick up a few power strips (surge protectors)-they eliminate the hassel of unplugging. Just plug e-gadgets
into it- and flip that one switch vs. unplugging multiples.
Vampire chart-
http://awesome.good....pireenergy.html

[encryptedbytes]

dkramarczyk, on 31 March 2012 - 11:33 PM, said:

I've heard about unplugging appliances when they are not in use. Does that really help though?

The power draw of most appliance when they are turned off is pretty minimal. I calculated the savings of doing this for one of my gadgets (sorry, don't remember which it was) and the annual savings came out to about 31¢ - hardly worth considering.

This, of course, is going to vary from gadget to gadget. a large LCD TV most certainly uses more power when turned off than a simple lamp. To know what is using power and what isn't, you need to measure it.

There's a gadget called the Kill-A-Watt that you can use to measure how much power your appliances are actually using. It's pretty easy to use, just plug it into an outlet, plug your appliance into it and it'll start doing its thing. It'll display volts, amps, watts, hz, and va and has a cumulative kilowatt-hour monitor.

Once you've run an appliance on it for a while, divide the total kilowatt-hours used, by the number of hours monitored to find out how many kilowatt-hours your appliance uses in an hour. Multiple by 24 to find the kilowatt-hours per day. Your power bill will tell you how much you are paying per kilowatt-hour to figure how much your appliance costs to run in an hour or a day.

It might sound difficult, but it's really easy. There's even a version For Dummies. I still can posts links, but if you search Google for Kill-A-Watt you'll find it easily enough.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

encryptedbytes, on 01 April 2012 - 06:09 AM, said:

The power draw of most appliance when they are turned off is pretty minimal.

Did you check out the link I posted above?
Or perhaps these?
The numbers add up, and in a years time, you could be wasting hundreds of dollars.
http://www.pcworld.c...s_the_most.html

"The typical American home has 20 electrical appliances that bleed consumers of money.
That's because the appliances continue to suck electricity even when they're off, says a Cornell University energy expert.
His studies estimate that these so-called "vampire" appliances cost consumers $3 billion a year -- or about $200 per household."
http://www.news.corn...iances.ssl.html

[E3 wise]

I think what is important to remember is the cumulative effect of 300 million people all doing the same thing.

Vampire power is the energy used by appliances and electronics when plugged in but not being used.  Energy efficiency is the simplest most cost effective way to reduce energy use and help climate change.
The savings by individual users is indeed small but when all are added up and put together the savings to electric production and green house gases is huge.

As usual ShortPoet is absolutely correct (I have found that she knows her stuff and provides great links so if she gives one check it out because they really provide important information.)

Quote

Pick up a few power strips (surge protectors)-they eliminate the hassel of unplugging. Just plug e-gadgets into it- and flip that one switch vs. unplugging multiples.

Take a look at the link and you can see the huge amount that this little change can provide.

Vampire chart-

http://awesome.good....pireenergy.html

[encryptedbytes]

Shortpoet-GTD, on 01 April 2012 - 07:11 AM, said:

Did you check out the link I posted above?

I did. I meant to use the word gadgets rather than appliances here. Items like mobile phones and GPS devices aren't nearly as bad as televisions, computers, and game consoles. Thanks for catching that, the wording is misleading. I'd go back and fix the post, but it seems that I cannot edit it once another post has been made.

E3 wise, on 01 April 2012 - 07:25 AM, said:

I think what is important to remember is the cumulative effect of 300 million people all doing the same thing.

An excellent point! Even items that use very little vampire power, when multiplied by milions, make a big difference!

[dkramarczyk]

Shortpoet-GTD, on 01 April 2012 - 03:13 AM, said:

Pick up a few power strips (surge protectors)-they eliminate the hassel of unplugging. Just plug e-gadgets
into it- and flip that one switch vs. unplugging multiples.

Thanks for the tip. That would definitely make it a lot easier and still save money, even if it is only saving money in the long run. I mean, over time it could be hundreds of dollars. Imagine what you could have done with all that money if you would have saved it.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

dkramarczyk, on 01 April 2012 - 10:31 PM, said:

Thanks for the tip. That would definitely make it a lot easier and still save money, even if it is only saving money in the long run. I mean, over time it could be hundreds of dollars. Imagine what you could have done with all that money if you would have saved it.

You're welcome.
And as I mentioned in another thread, I saw savings of about $30 a month, so it can be substantial
for the year.
Think of all the insulation you could buy for the attic with that extra $300+

[mariaandrea]

The most energy efficient TV is one that doesn't get used. Like mine.   I canceled the cable a year ago and the TV gets turned on maybe once every couple of weeks to watch a movie. And almost everything we have is plugged into a power strip. Things that aren't, like the toaster, are always unplugged.

On the other hand, I can't get too smug about not using a TV because my computer is on 16 hours a day...

[Shortpoet-GTD]

E3 wise, on 01 April 2012 - 07:25 AM, said:

As usual ShortPoet is absolutely correct.

Carve that it stone!   (As my head swells to it's new humongous size.)

[4leafclover]

I recently visited an appliance shop because we were looking for some juicers and I didn't mean to eaves drop but I overheard one customer asked which is more energy saving, LCD or LED TVs, the sales person went ahead and explain that capacitors that are found inside of an LED panel allow the monitor/TV to consume less energy when it is powered on. Thus, LED TVs might be more expensive but in reality it will definitely save more on the long run. Plus, since it uses lesser energy, there's lesser carbon by-product making Earth greener!

[dconklin]

We have the energy star rated flat screen TVs.  I noticed a little bit of a difference until we got the Xbox 360 and the honey won't let me unplug it when not in use.  He claims it messes it up and I know there is no battery back up that keeps the time on it.  I think he just gets annoyed about the time, but I leave it plugged in so I do not have to hear about it.  I unplug what I can without him bugging out.  He hates the time being off on anything like the radio that he barely uses but has to be plugged in.  Yeah it annoys me, but I unplug other things.  Our microwave is never plugged in except for use.

Typical rule with electricity use: if it has any kind of display or light even when off, it uses electricity to sit plugged in.  Even the little tiny LED that lights up on the VCR to tell you it's off.

[zararina]

I do not have a efficient kind of TV but I do not use it often or for longer hours. On a daily basis, I will usually just use it to watch an evening news or if there is a good movie in the afternoon. Also to watch one show at night.
And I always unplug it whenever it was not in used. ;)

[dkramarczyk]

mariaandrea, on 02 April 2012 - 07:44 AM, said:

I canceled the cable a year ago and the TV gets turned on maybe once every couple of weeks to watch a movie.

I don't even get cable and I barely ever use the TV. It's mainly my children and husband that use the TV. I don't really have a WANT to use the TV. I prefer the internet, but I try to limit how much I use that as well so that I don't end up wasting. For example, I have a laptop, it has a battery, as soon as it's charged, I can unplug it and not keep it plugged in when it already has a full battery.

[btatro]

dkramarczyk, on 31 March 2012 - 11:33 PM, said:

I've heard about unplugging appliances when they are not in use. Does that really help though? I've never tried it but I'm debating about it. A lot of green activities seem like a pain in the butt. Don't get me wrong, I want to do everything I can to help the planet, but why do they always have to be so much more difficult then the alternatives?

I do think it helps over time. I guess for me it is now habit. I don't go out of my way necessarily to have every thing possible unplugged, but if I use the toaster, I unplug it after. Same with the coffee maker. If I watch tv in the evening, it feels normal now to turn it off and pull out the cord. I use a power strip for my computer and computer accessories to make it easier. To me, the energy savings along with the cost savings over time makes it worth it.