Good day fellow humans. It is I, your host, back for another tony edition of Blinded by Science. And yes, you read that right, back for another TONY edition. My name is actually an adjective meaning high-toned or stylish! And as we all know, our names are permanent reminders used to fully describe who and what we are.
Who
shall I be today?
Or not
. . .
Anyway,
today I will be answering a question from Steve P. He asks, “Do you really save any electricity
and money by unplugging household devices when they are not in use?” Well Steve, this question reminds me of
another question I have answered. It turns out I was used as part of an ongoing
marital argument when I answered that previous question so I hope that this is
not the case now. And if it is, I expect
pay commiserate with the risk I am taking by getting involved. I accept personal checks, cash, gift cards to
delicious restaurants, and chocolate.
So now,
let us get into today’s question. Steve,
the answer to your question is yes, unplugging electronics when they are not in
use will save electricity and therefore money.
Though there is a caveat (when in life isn’t there?). This only holds true for certain types of
household devices – those that use standby power. But what is standby power? It is “electricity used by appliances and equipment
while they are switched off or not performing their primary function.” In other words, it is electricity that
devices use when they are not in use.
Simple example, the little LED light on the front of the television that
glows red when the TV is turned off (it changes color when you use the remote
to turn the TV on). It takes electricity
for the light to be on, even though you have turned the TV off. As another example, look at your
microwave. Even when the microwave is
not in use, it uses electricity to keep the clock running.
The
amount of electricity these appliances use is usually rather low. According to studies done by Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory, the majority of devices
with standby power tested use less than 10 watts of electricity. But having multiple devices in your home that
use standby power can add up.
Let’s
assume that the average device with standby power consumes 5 watts of
electricity. To convert that number into
kilowatt hours (unit of energy consumption utilized by electric companies to
determine cost) we must first multiply it by the number of hours that the
device is on. In one year there are
roughly 8760 hours (24 x 365) that this device is drawing power. So 5 x 8760 equals 43800 watt hours or 43.8
kilowatt hours. The average price of
residential electricity in the United States in March of 2015 is 12.35 cents per
kilowatt hour. So the average device with standby power
costs a homeowner roughly $5.41 per year (43.8 kilowatt hours per year x 12.35
cents per kilowatt hour equals 540.93 cents per year). That’s not too bad. Unplugging this device permanently would
basically allow you to have one more fast food dinner a year. If the average house has forty of these devices, the cost then
becomes roughly $216.37. So unplugging
these devices would save you quite a bit of money over the year which could be
spent on other necessities.
Or a
number of extra fast food meals
With
that said, this only applies to devices that use standby power. Electricity does not flow when an electrical
circuit is not completed (think about how cars don’t move during a traffic jam
because both lanes of a highway are blocked) so other devices, like lamps, that
aren’t drawing electricity when turned off don’t need to be unplugged. Also, you shouldn’t unplug all devices that
use standby power either. Refrigerators use
standby power so they can continuously monitor the internal temperature and
switch on when it gets to a certain point.
Unplugging a refrigerator would be a bad idea.
Nothing
wrong here. Just wipe it a bit and
everything will be as good as new. And
delicious.
Well, I
hope I’ve been able to help. Tune in next time when I answer another of your burning science questions!
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