Interesting read on the BBC news website today about "Vampire devices". No I had not heard the term either! These are electrical devices that are left on standby. In the article here it claims that most households waste £147 of electricity through items being left on standby every year, across the country that is nearly £2.2 bn.
To quote the article:
"It may be convenient to leave the television on standby and wake it up with a press of a button on a remote - but it costs £24.61 per year, the research suggests, plus a further £23.10 for a set-top box, such as from Sky or Virgin Media.
And there's more:
- Microwave: £16.37
- Shower: £9.80
- Washing machine: £4.73
- Printer: £3.81
- Phone charger: £1.26"
- and Games console £12.17 and computers £11.12"
Now I cannot get to most of the plugs on things like consoles etc as they are hidden behind shelves etc so up to now I have largely ignored this with the attitude that it can't be that much fuel we are wasting anyway - however these figures really make you think and as it points out you can buy plugs that will allow you to turn off the device.
A quick check on Amazon shows that a 3 pack with mechanical timers come in at about £14.99 so about a fiver each - these are definitely the easiest (and would stop my teenage sons being on the console at midnight!) but they are bulky - here is an example (please note not endorsing this particular model in any way!). If you have already invested in something like Google Home or Alexa you can get plugs that you can control from your phone for a little less than double that. I am now thinking that it is worthwhile sneaking a few of the mechanical ones into my budget; starting with the TV's and consoles followed by the microwave - even if they are turned off just at night time then they should recoup the cost over the course of a year and put more money into my pocket from then on in.
Any other belt tighteners that have a small initial investment?
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