On Sep 15, 12:51*pm, pete wrote:
On Tue, 15 Sep 2009 04:25:19 -0700 (PDT), Man at B&Q wrote:
On Sep 15, 12:06*pm, pete wrote:
On Tue, 15 Sep 2009 09:39:13 +0100, Norman Wells wrote:
Vortex4 wrote:
"alexander.keys1" wrote in message
...
There have been a lot of comments recently about the waste of energy
due to appliances being left on standby, and various gizmo's that are
on offer to turn them off automatically, or otherwise purporting to
save energy. What everybody seems to be forgetting is that an energy-
saving device comes with most UK socket outlets, it's called a
'switch', and when put into the 'off' position, power cosumption is
zero! None of my appliances, including computers, digital TV
receivers, etc. have come to harm through this practice, I always
switch off at the wall, back in the day when there were fewer
appliances this was standard procedure to avoid fire risk.

David Mackays book is a good read on this subject:
http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/w...page_155.shtml

So he says he can save all of 45 watts if he turns everything off instead of
leaving it on standby when he's not using it. *The equivalent of a very dim
lightbulb therefore. *Great!

Which in the very next sentence he states is a saving of £45 per year. Sounds
worth having, esp. as it's savings from taxed income.

However, he ignores the fact that he's also losing 45 watts of heat. *To
keep his house at exactly the same temperature, an extra 45 watts of heat
need to be pumped out by whatever heating system he has, for as much of the
year as he needs any heating at all. *Admittedly, that may be a bit cheaper
if it's gas-fired, but it's still the same amount of energy, so it's
unlikely to have a huge impact on climate change.

True, as far as it goes. However for (depending where you live & how well
insulated your house is) half the year, it's wasted heat. Plus it doesn't
contribute to the _usable_ room environment when the occupants are asleep
or out -

Warming an empty room will reduce heat loss from adjacent rooms so it
does have some effect.

While true in theory at least, until you quantify the amount it, saying that
doesn't contribute anything useful to the discussion.

shrug Neither does your grammar, if you want to be pedantic about
it.

MBQ