8 ms·

Also, even if your devices on standby draw the equivalent of £30 of energy per year, and even if you turned them off completely, you would still not save £30 a

Also, even if your devices on standby draw the equivalent of £30 of energy per year, and even if you turned them off completely, you would still not save £30 a year if you live in a country where you need heating in the winter. Because apart from light escaping by your windows, almost all that energy is turned into heat, and if it wasn't there, you'd have to heat up your home more.

pbhjpbhj 4y ago
And if you use air-conditioning for cooling?
- fguerraz 4y ago
  Then I guess you don't care about neither the environment nor money, so it's kind of a moot point. (I am not talking about using it in reverse / heat-pump ONLY)
- francisofascii 4y ago
  Yep, Your device heat adds to the load on your AC. So if you going to bother with unplugging devices, it is more beneficial on those hot summer days.
smallpipe 4y ago
IIRC, a kWh of electricity is about 3x more expensive than a gas kWh. You’re correct if your heating is electric (resistive) though.
newaccount74 4y ago
You are right, but your heating system is probably cheaper (unless you have simple electric radiators). If you have a heat pump, it will generate about 3W of heat from 1W of electricity, so it's 3 times more expensive to heat with standby devices that with your heat pump. If you heat with gas, it's much cheaper per kWh than electricity, but I'm not sure what the ratio is.
yabones 4y ago
Exactly! Some people look at me with disgust for running an inefficient old AMD PC as my home file/print/backup server, but it's made the coldest room in my house very comfortable during the winter months. There are no central heating vents in this room so I would be using electric heat regardless, it just so happens that my heater is also filling an important technical role as well.
astrobe_ 4y ago
Perhaps related or not, I was wondering about the energy loss of AC/DC converters that are often used to power the device. This clearly happens when the device is switched on - the converter is a bit warm - but maybe it also happens when it is off ?

pbhjpbhj 4y ago

And if you use air-conditioning for cooling?

fguerraz 4y ago
Then I guess you don't care about neither the environment nor money, so it's kind of a moot point. (I am not talking about using it in reverse / heat-pump ONLY)
francisofascii 4y ago
Yep, Your device heat adds to the load on your AC. So if you going to bother with unplugging devices, it is more beneficial on those hot summer days.

smallpipe 4y ago

IIRC, a kWh of electricity is about 3x more expensive than a gas kWh. You’re correct if your heating is electric (resistive) though.

newaccount74 4y ago

You are right, but your heating system is probably cheaper (unless you have simple electric radiators). If you have a heat pump, it will generate about 3W of heat from 1W of electricity, so it's 3 times more expensive to heat with standby devices that with your heat pump. If you heat with gas, it's much cheaper per kWh than electricity, but I'm not sure what the ratio is.

yabones 4y ago

Exactly! Some people look at me with disgust for running an inefficient old AMD PC as my home file/print/backup server, but it's made the coldest room in my house very comfortable during the winter months. There are no central heating vents in this room so I would be using electric heat regardless, it just so happens that my heater is also filling an important technical role as well.

astrobe_ 4y ago

Perhaps related or not, I was wondering about the energy loss of AC/DC converters that are often used to power the device. This clearly happens when the device is switched on - the converter is a bit warm - but maybe it also happens when it is off ?