[TD in DC]

If your house is anything like mine, I bet you have tons of electronic devices plugged in at all times.

I just heard a statistic that many devices consume 40% of their total power needs even if they are shut off (if they remain plugged in).

Has anyone tried to use switched outlets in a strategic way to shut off power to all electronic devices in a room (e.g., kids play room) in order to reduce overall power consumption? I assume that plugging these types of devices into a switched outlet would reduce power consumption to zero if the switched outlet is turned off.

Of course, it becomes more complicated when you try to decide whether to hook things like computers to switched outlets, which could obviously lead to problems. For those, a switched power strip might be preferable. But, I am not so sure I care about blinking time settings on devices if I could reduce my power bills.

Am I missing anything? I wonder how much plugged in devices contribute, on a percentage basis, to the overall power bill? Would going to this trouble make a big enough difference to make the exercise worth it?

[Rick V]

As a rule of thumb, I unplug anything that has a light in it, that stays lit when turned off. I also switched to those twistie light bulbs, it seemed to help alot.
With a teenage daughter in the house it is never completly dark here.

[VaSteve]

I find the 40% statistic hard to believe. Unless it was some small gadget or something. I figure a small gadget isn't that big a draw anyway but something infrequently used wouldn't be a big deal to unplug.

I wouldn't want to disconnect things like the TV (on a remote) or the microwave (not running, I can't see that clock burning too much power). The 5 cordless phones I wouldn't want to disconnect either.

I don't constantly charge my cell or ipod or camera...just when needed. What *have* you got plugged in?

Now, to save power, I got some of those thermostats that change the temp throughout the day. I think it made a difference. (And I installed them myself, talon/jazz )

[edevinney]

There was a good article in the WSJ about this recently. Older chargers weren't real smart and would apparently suck down power when not in use. Not so much of a problem with modern stuff. Any electronics that sleep can consumer more power than you think so they don't have to take time starting up.

Compact fluorescent lights seem to be the biggest win, along with common sense stuff like setback thermostats and turning stuff off when you're not using it.

[TD in DC]

yes, I am trying to get a sense on whether extra trouble would be worth it.

When I first moved in my house, I immediately replaced the entire HVAC system (the old one worked fine but was 15 years old) with the highest efficiency and programmable units i could find. My appliances are all the highest efficiency devices I could buy (I am sure that, like a Prius, the overall cost of the devices probably negated much of the benefits of the energy savings). I have also tried the energy saving light bulbs but, honestly, I think they suck. The delay in coming up to full light and the quality of the light once they did, was substandard. I have a fair bit of art in many rooms, and the light washed out the colors and made everything look pale and antiseptic. I eventually replaced with color correct bulbs that I am sure cost much more from an energy consumption perspective than the green ones. Oh well.

Nonetheless, the power and water consumption in my house is absurd. It would be nice to find an easy way to help control that (I am ducking in preparation for the zingers that will surely follow), but I doubt that exists. Still, I think there might be some merit to cutting off power completely to certain rooms when they are not being used, like the basement room, which contains the audio/video system for the entire house, big TV for that room, stereos, electronic games, etc . . . Might be a little safer as well.

[kirkelliott1]

I'm about to take the interior of my house down to the frame and add insulation (which it doesn't have) but have been looking at a/c systems to replace the window units I have now. Have decided to go with the ductless type so that each room will be it's own zone. If it's not being used, no sense keeping it cool plus when they are used in high mode they're only pulling down about 15 amps and they're variable speed as well vs the more common central a/c units. Should be a heck of a lot more efficient than the window units I'm using now.

[SilverStreak]

How old is the house? You may be losing a lot of HVAC through older duct work or through construction practices that aren't as tight as today. You can use Icynene, a spray insulation product used in Canada, in your attic to seal up holes in your building envelope. Close your flue. Have thermostatically controlled dampers installed in each room.

You would be amazed at the testing the building sciences guys do. There are so many gaps in older construction, newer isn't gap free of course, you would be stunned if they did their fan test. They close all the windows and doors and put a fan in a window sucking air out of the house and you can walk around inside and feel the drafts and trace them to their sources hopefully. You may determine that you need windows or all your doors need to be rehung etc.

If your bill is truly that bad then you may have something more substantial to contend with than just leaving the lights on.

Unfortunately, none of this is cheap

[tbernard]

There's various meters out there, you can use to measure how many watt's a device is drawing. Here's an example. http://www.smarthome.com/9056.html

I'm sure the florescent lights save some money, but what about the mercury they contain, seems like we are always trading one problem for another.

[AznDrgn]

A lot of what you guys are talking about doing is real nice and all but unless you plan to hire multiple engineers, basically tear down your house and start from scratch it's not feasible.

Kirk unless you are making each room pretty much air tight I don't think your plan will be as efficient as you think. With air flowing around the house the cold air will leave whatever room you are running the ac in and eventually end up cooling most of the house too. What units are you looking at? We've installed a lot of the Sanyo and Mitsubishi units over the past few years and have been very pleased with them. They are quite, small, efficient, and for existing construction you only require a couple of small holes to install them. If you haven't already seen them Sanyo has a newer model that actually installs recessed into the ceiling so all you see is a grill, just installed 2 of those last month and they look great.

[kirkelliott1]

Danny, looking seriously at the Mitsubishi Mr Slim...the challenge with my house is built in 1893 as a barn and converted in the 30's to a church with radiators and in the 60's to a two bedroom house. Completely redid the exterior last year taking off about 5 layers of siding discovering nothing in the walls for insulation. This year stripping the inside and adding insulation, making things as weathertite as possible. Perfect time to add a/c of some kind but keeping the radiators due to their effectiveness. All of the research I've read concerning central a/c vs the ductless keeps pointing (at least in my case) to go ductless. Any more info concerning Mitsubishi's units would be a great help....haven't pulled the trigger yet but close.