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As part of my "spring cleaning", and partly inspired by this "Earth Hour" thing, I did an inventory of all the connected electrical devices around my apartment.

I basically categorized them this way:

1. Devices that are used all the time and must be connected: Lights, electrical heating, fridge, water heater and so on.
2. Devices that are seldom used, but cannot be turned off completely or disconnected easily: Oven, washer, dryer, and so on.
3. Devices that are on all the time, for some reason.
4. Devices that are used enough to warrant leaving them in "low-power standby mode".
5. Devices I should turn off completely or disconnect when not used.

While I can't do anything for the devices in categories 1 and 2, other than replacing them, my goal was to move as many devices to either standby or turned off as possible. For example, my "home server PC", a Mac mini, doesn't use much power, but do I really need to have to running all the time? So I programmed it to be in standby, and wake up only during the afternoons on weekdays.

For devices already in standby mode, are they used enough? For example, my Panasonic Blu-Ray player kept being warm, since it remained in standby mode, for what? About 10 seconds of boot time? Since my TV takes that much time to "boot up" anyway, I just need to power on both at the same time, and I'll save all the electricity of keeping it in standby all the time.

I am generally less worried about laptops, tables and other battery-operated mobile devices when they stand in standby. They are already quite energy-efficient, running on batteries or not, especially when not actively used. Still, unplugging them from chargers reduces risks if there's an electrical surcharge in the apartment's wiring.

Published on March 30, 2015 at 16:26 EDT

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