Standby or turn it off?

Question

Is it really better to turn stuff off? Standby is there to reduce the 'wear and tear' on the electronic components. Lets say you turn your TV off when you have finished watching it - this could be 5 or 6 times a day. The electronic bits will breakdown quicker and you will need to buy a new TV. This will need to be manufactured, shipped to your local store, held in storage and then eventually you will drive there in your car to pick it up. All of this uses a great deal of power and therefore adds to the CO2 emission that are supposed to be reduced by turning the TV off in the first place. Roll this arguement out over all of the electrical items you are encouraged to switch off and suddenly you are paying out an aweful lot of money and possibly adding to 'climate change'. So should you turn off or leave it on standby?

Answer 1

Very small difference either way.

Replace just one incandescent bulb in your house with a compact fluorescent and you do a lot more.

Answer 2

Most electronic and electric devices go to standby when you turn them off, the electrical supply is always on and they are consuming very small amounts of energy, if you unplug every device you can save energy and protect the environment, but what is the advantage? Back in the day they rubbed sticks together to make a fire- but they conserved energy! I think standby a or turnoff is a stand-off.

Answer 3

Turning homestead equipment on and rancid motives very minor potential surges - a procedures, a procedures smaller in words of power use than leaving homestead equipment on standby. some products are more beneficial useful than others. i purchased a cheap potential-meter plug from Tchibo a at the same time as in the past. It plugs in between the utilizing and the wall and tells me how a lot potential an equipment is making use of. i tried it on my video. With the video became on, it replaced into making use of 35watts. With the video on standby, it used 35watts besides. With the video became off on the wall, it used, for sure, 0 watts. like you say, reprogramming a video can be a soreness, in spite of the undeniable fact that it may save a lot of wasted potential now to not leave it on standby. I checked a load of alternative stuff on standby too (it replaced right into a damp Sunday!) - computer, exhibit screen, hi-fi, and so on, and the in undemanding words one which wasn't dropping potential unecessarily on standby replaced into my old Sony television, which makes use of decrease than a watt on standby. maximum TVs waste a honest volume of potential on standby, so i ought to were fortunate with mine. i have been a touch an electronics anorak for a at the same time as, and that i visit appropriately say (in an anoraky accent) that maximum folk may be shocked by ability of how sloppily maximum homestead equipment are designed in this respect, particularly because it expenditures the corporation no more beneficial to layout a product that's effective on standby than one that's wasteful.

Answer 4

Does cutting a device on and off really produce that much wear & tear on modern components?

From my days in College as an Engineer, I remember that heat is an enemy to integrated circuits, and leaving it on standby leaves your circuits warm (but not as hot as if they were actually being used).

And I don't watch my TV during the day, since no one is home, so I wonder if your calculation actually works, anyway. Hum.

Answer 5

Suppose u leave the equipment on standby and the power goes out. When it comes back on a short can happen and it will fry all your equipment left on standby....it seems better to turn stuff off, never leave it on standby. One of my friend's TV caught fire while it was left on standby. Turning equipment off and on will not add wear and tear significantly.

Answer 6

For devices that have a standby mode, leaving them on is fine. They really use almost no power--and you're right, it reduces stress and wear and tear.

But many things don't have that capability. So those devices should be turned off when not in use.

Answer 7

I agree. You save a trivial amount of electricity and it is a lot of trouble. In many cases you need to actually unplug the device to really stop all electricity use. You can save FAR more electricity by switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs or replacing an old air conditioner with a newer more energy efficient model.

Answer 8

You make a good point. It would be interesting to actually see the numbers, but whose numbers would you trust? However, I would debate the idea that we would be adding to the climate change.