Green tip 2: electricity wasted

When I finished my green building classes, I took a look at my home office at night. It looked like an airplane cockpit, full of little lights. My computer, the modem, the monitor, the printer, my cell phone charger, my camera dock, my lockbox keypad, and my phone all had little lights – green, red or yellow.

25 percent of the electricity used by the average television is used while that television is off, because they are on standby to come on quickly. All your chargers use electricity to light up whether they are charging something or not. How many little lights are burning in your house all day and all night?

Easy solution to this waste: use power strips to plug in televisions and other appliances that have lights or standby settings. Turn off the strip when you are not using those appliances.

Simple, relatively cheap, and good for your electric bill and for the world.

(This entry dedicated to Dan Fogelberg. 1951-2007. "World spinning out of control.The odds diminish every die we roll.But we are still in the game. If we should lose there's only us to blame." -Gone too Far, 1984)