The Myth Of Energy Saving - Switch Off Or Unplug?

Have you heard of this advise?

"To save your electricity bill, do not just switch off your appliances, be it be TV, Air-Conditioning Unit, DVD player etc. But instead, UNPLUG and you will see a significant drop of your electricity bill."

This advise had actually caused a bit of a discussion among the energy efficiency community all over the world, whether this could be true or not?

Well, if you are staying in the US, this could be very much true. However, if you are staying in Europe, and most parts in Asia, this may not be true anymore.

Why?

Simply, we do not share the common wiring system.

What exactly does it means?

Look at the two different switch sockets below.




In the states, almost all are using the lower type of sockets. And, in some parts of the world, people are actually using the upper type of sockets.

Now, what is the differences?

Notice the on-off button?

Yeap, that is the main differentiation factor.

In the states, when we "switch off" our TVs, and many other appliances, we are actually putting it into standby mode.

Whereas those who are using the on-off button, the term "switch off" means "UNPLUG" in the US terms.

And, the advise of unplug to save energy, do not applicable to those who use on-off button.

Now, why there is differences in power consumption when we already put the appliances into standby mode?

Well, these power consumed is called phantom load, or electricity vampire, or simply, standby power. What it does it to supply power to appliances in sleep mode. It consumes less energy, but still consumes energy.

So, find out what kind of system you are using, and make sure you "switch off" in the correct way.

Have a Green Day Ahead

Mark
Way2Green

P/S: Learn the behavior of your electrical appliances by understand how they consume energy. I recommend the use of these kind of gadgets: