Are forums green?

If forums didn't exist we would all turn our PC's off early saving huge amounts of electricity and resources. Therefore I declare that forums are destroying the eco system :)

Although that said, I would only turn the TV on instead ;)

What appliances do YOU leave on all the time that would be better switched off?
 
We're really bad at leaving the freeview/dvd/video all turned on - even if it is on standby. I think I read that it still uses a huge percentage of energy if on standby.

I'm pretty good at turning all the lights off, apart from tonight - but then I am watching the shining!
 
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We tend to run the dishwasher at night, which reduces demand on the grid.

Every night, before going to sleep, I am careful to turn off all unnecessary lights. It's probably a little thing, but still.

The big ticket items, though, are heating and air conditioning. We tend to set the minimum temperature to be about 70 degrees and the maximum to be about 82, which keeps us comfortable without overusing the system. We change these numbers at night so the heating doesn't kick in again until morning.

During the summer, we subscribe to a scheme whereby the electricity company can turn off our air conditioning for 30 minutes at a time to reduce the demand on the system. We get a small credit on our bill for doing this.

Also, we are careful to ensure our monthly water usage does not exceed the total for the same month last year. This saves us money because there's a higher rate for water use that exceeds last year's amount. If the lawn needs sprinkling, we do this late in the evening or early morning to reduce the amount lost to evaporation (not turning anything off, admittedly, but it's a night-time related thing :)).
 
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We're really bad at leaving the freeview/dvd/video all turned on - even if it is on standby. I think I read that it still uses a huge percentage of energy if on standby.

I'm pretty good at turning all the lights off, apart from tonight - but then I am watching the shining!

There is a gadget that was on Dragons Den that cuts out the standby power.

It was in our local Tesco for £29.99 now I see its reduced to £21.99 .so maybe its not going to be one of there big success stories.

Earl
 
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If forums didn't exist we would all turn our PC's off early saving huge amounts of electricity and resources. Therefore I declare that forums are destroying the eco system :)

Although that said, I would only turn the TV on instead ;)

What appliances do YOU leave on all the time that would be better switched off?

My mother in law, useless waste of energy, wish I could find something to turn her off and get her to shut the hell up.:D
 
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My last comment was to Sirearl, typing quickly or it won't make sense - forums are green, probably!!!!

that doesn't help, now you confused everyone!

Kettle is BAD for me too, I boil it and then forget about it, go back 5 min later and boil it again... <repeat lots of times>
I should get a teasmade on the desk, I would get a coffee pot but after 5 good coffees I actually start shaking :p
 
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As a more serious answer to your question.

I can remember pre internet days. Where finding information out was hard. It might well entail getting into the car and driving somewhere. Be it the library or some shop(s).

Because of broadband and the internet and boot up times I always leave the laptop switched on though. But this would be the case even without forums.

So forums are perhaps eco friendly.
 
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I often wonder about the 'true' benefits of turning the TV off rather than leave it on standby at night. After having a TV repaired one time, I was told by a TV engineer that the TV's (and in fact any electronics) are 'stressed' when being turned on from cold, but less stressed when coming out of standby mode.

So what's more economical on the environment and wallet overall?
- premature death of the TV due to stress: taking old TV to tip, buying a new one (CO2 from travel, cost of new TV) or engineer callout and repair (CO2 from mileage, cost of repair)
- few extra watts of power each night on standby (CO2 from power station, cost of power)


Peter
 
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I often wonder about the 'true' benefits of turning the TV off rather than leave it on standby at night. After having a TV repaired one time, I was told by a TV engineer that the TV's (and in fact any electronics) are 'stressed' when being turned on from cold, but less stressed when coming out of standby mode.

So what's more economical on the environment and wallet overall?
- premature death of the TV due to stress: taking old TV to tip, buying a new one (CO2 from travel, cost of new TV) or engineer callout and repair (CO2 from mileage, cost of repair)
- few extra watts of power each night on standby (CO2 from power station, cost of power)


Peter

It's complicated, I think i reda on the BBC, that in its life a Microwave for example, over 90% of the energy it uses will be that little clock on the front.

Yet it's really quite useful, and I expect one thing a lot of people, myself included seem to end up left on standby :/

I think cooking with microwave/combo ovens is a good energy saving idea.

In the normal oven it takes about 15 mins to heat up, and about 10- 12 to cook a pizza.

In the microwave oven, it takea bout 5 mins to preheat to 170, then around 6 mins to cook.

The size of the oven may have a lot to do with that, but there's not much you cant fit in a microwave, well depending on size etc.
 
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