Easy Power Saving

[Bill]

Having been messing about recently with my solar panel and checking just where the power goes, it became apparent that I was wasting nearly as much as I was saving so I thought I’d share this in the hope you might be able to do something similar.

The first thing I looked at was my Virgin router that like most people I leave permanently running. It doesn’t use a lot of power at about 14 watts but from April when the price goes up, it’ll use about £33 a year based on their claimed consumption. Reality though shows that its power consumption is nearly double that when used on WiFi rather than with a network cable so it could rack up £66 per year.

In an ideal world, a router would sleep while no data is being used and restart instantly but again in reality, it takes over 5 minutes to become fully operational so turning it on and off becomes impractical. My router though lives in my bedroom so by simply adopting a routine of flicking it off when I close the curtains at night and back on when I open them each morning saves me about 8 pence a day or about £31 a year.

It's not a huge amount but of the four key areas I’ve found where I can make savings, amazingly this is the smallest. My wife said “is it worth the effort” but I say it’s just the same as leaving four bedrooms lights on all night and who in their right mind would do that?

Food for thought eh but I don’t want to make this an essay so I’ll talk about the other bigger savings later.

 

Bill 😊

[Evil Sid]

surprising what does get left on without thinking.

yes the router, but also my printer, the three handsets to the landline that are charging up,various appliances like the microwave which stays on 24/7 for most people, the electronic display for the central heating and more recently the smart meters.

all these things add up.

Mind you with the smart meter display i have been keeping an eye on the daily gas and electric usage, more curiosity than anything. on average i am using around £3.00 combined gas and electric per 24 hours. How that compares to what i used to use i have no idea as i have only had central heating since january.

[ninearches]

It the " out of sight out of mind "  scenario ,just like the standing orders that don't get cancelled.

[Bill]

That’s one of the advantages of the smart meters display unit showing how much total power is being used. It gets a bit tricky trying to work out what an individual appliance takes but it can be done by turning things on and off and checking the difference.

I want to try and save some money, but I don’t want the hassle of bouncing round turning stuff on and off, only true eco-warriors do that, so I’m looking for ways where savings can be made without compromising ease of use and convenience. Things like phone and headphone chargers aren’t a real problem as they take next to nothing once they’ve done their job, so I leave stuff like this permanently plugged in. 

The real problem is remembering to do it.

 

Bill 😊

[Observer II]

Too late in life to worry about savings, yer can't take it with you.   💀

[Bill]

That’s why I’m not suggesting doing anything here where you need to spend money that has a long-term payback. My powering down the router suggestion will save money immediately without any money being spent. But if your memory’s getting a bit flaky then Home Bargains do a nice mains timer for £3 which will pay for itself in about a month and after that you’re in profit.

I’ve literally just received my replacement smart meter and I’m itching to get it working so my number 2 energy saving suggestion will have to wait a bit (hopefully after lunch)

 

Three hours later...

The older a pc or laptop gets, the longer it takes to boot up after the power has been turned off. We all know this, so for anyone like myself who’s on and off the machine throughout the day, having to keep waiting for a 5-minute restart is a pain. So I’ve been using the power saving sleep mode which detects keyboard inactivity and freezes the programs, so they’re ready very quickly when the machine wakes up. Without thinking of the cost implications, I’d set the time period to 5 hours and because the machine automatically switches to sleep mode during the evening, I’ve tended to just leave it permanently on.

Now my laptop uses about 50 watts while active and just 1 watt while asleep so moving my sleep settings from 5 hours to a more conservative 45 minutes saves a minimum of 4.25 hours each night when it goes to sleep. Doing the sums and assuming it only did this once at night, that’s 4.25 x 50 = 212.5 watt hours = 4.6 pence/day or £16.80 a year. That’s a guaranteed minimum but the true figure could easily by many more times than that and probably nearer £50. It’s no real hassle because the pc/laptop starts quickly from sleep mode and the process is fully automated. There are some benefits from doing a full power off restart, but it’s only needed about once or twice a month.

Just like the router, these small steps all add up over time saving real money without the need for a single penny of investment.

 

Bill 😊