Is There Costly Electrical Loss In Your Home
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by: MichaelEdwards | Total views: 61 | Word Count: 712
When looking into saving energy using green products, have you forgotten those little 3 inch square power supplied in almost every power socket in your home? Those little black supplies are consuming power whenever they are plugged in.
Whenever we buy any green products, audio/video components, PC Speakers, or cell phones to name a few a small (usually black) power supply is inside the box. This power supply provides power to the device or is used to recharge the products batteries. If you look around the house you will most likely find a couple plugged in to the wall waiting to be plugged into a product.
When looking for other power consumers look no farther that your TV/audio/video system even if they are one of the new green products. If you have an ON/OFF switch on the remote the component it belongs to has a standby power supply.
In business small and large alike we all have those little power supplies connected to our printers, USB hubs, network hubs, desk lights and a few personnel items wither they are green products or not. Each one of these devices and even many of those new green products are consuming power even when an electronic device is not connected to it.
The consumption continues to occur after the lights are turned off. Under every desk, is a little power sucker or two draining energy all night. For example, a normal cubical with a desk and a computer may have 3-5 of the little black power supplies plugged in. Multiple those by 100 employees and you have 300-500 plugged in every night continuing to use electricity all night long.
They can't use that much energy!
Most utilities will state that close to 15% of your electric bill is those little power supplies and standby electronic equipment. That will amount to $65-$95 dollars wasted per year.
With the reduction in size of electronics we have reduced the amount of electricity required to run these green products. This is where a device called a step-down transformer is required. A step-down transformer is nothing more than long loops of copper wire connect to the power plug. The wire used in the transformer is often several hundred feet long. Whenever the unit is plugged into the wall it will feel warm to the touch, indicating it is drawing power.
This consumption of electricity is directly related to the ON/OFF button on your remote control. In order to sense when you press the button the TV/Audio/Video equipment must be supplied power to run the sense components, even the new green products that are on the market still need some power.
What is the best way to stop this power drain?
It is not that hard. One of the simplest ways is to use more green products or a device that has been around for years, a power strip with an on/off switch. Remember the thin power consoles with switches that sat under power hungry monitors? This was a solution a little ahead of its time.
Make sure you buy power strips with an on/off switch; this is the only way to make sure there is no connection to the 120 volt power in your home. When you turn the switch off you are truly disconnected from the power company and therefore no power consumption.
This may seem a little inconvenient but it will save you money and it gets to be a habit in a few weeks so you don't even notice.
Does this really work?
I can only provide personnel experience. I pass by my power meter daily and have noted its rotations. It was rotating at about 1-2 rotations per minute.
After buy some power strips, I plugged in the computer systems, video equipment, and battery chargers.
So to test my theory went to the meter and counted how many times the black line of the wheel passed in front of me in one minute. It was about 1-2 times. Next I turned off all the power strips and checked the meter. I could not believe what I saw, the meter almost stopped running. The rotations had dropped to 1 rotation every two minutes.
This is something you can easily try for yourself. I could save you some money and reduce your carbon footprint and help when you buy some new green products.
Michael
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