"Greg" wrote in message
om...
Hello,

I have become embroiled in a discussion with government
representatives from many agencies about whether or not items such as
TVs, VCRs, DVDs etc should be turned off to conserve electricity as
opposed to leaving them turned on in standby mode.

Can someone PLEASE tell me why standby mode is used?

Why should such appliances be left in standby mode instead of turned
off?

Convenience. There's nothing more annoying as having to walk 3 feet over to
the TV to switch it on (only to have it power up to *standby* so having to
then go back and search for the remote anyway). So much easier to leave it
in standby...


If the appliance is turned off instead of being put into standby mode,
will the appliance's life be shortened, by how much and why?

I doubt it makes much of any real difference. Some people say leaving items
in standby reduces the shock of the initial power on surge, others say the
heat produced in standby reduces the life by an equal or greater amount.
You'd be hard pressed to ever put any meaningful figures on it.

I have seen sums on the energy savings if appliances are turned off
instead of being placed in standby, but I suspect that there is more
than this than meets the eye.

You have to ask if all the items on standby make any significant difference
compared to.. say.. all the wasted energy used heating empty rooms in
factories, schools etc. - all of which goes to waste because most of those
buildings have no insulation whatsoever.

Things could certainly be done to reduce energy waste; but.. at the end of
the day.. nobody can be bothered much. We enjoy our lifestyles too much to
worry about things that won't directly affect us. Sad, but true.

....