Let's strike back: Cut down electricity use
Zatni Arbi, Columnist, Jakarta, zatni@cbn.net.id
So the government has done it again. They approved increases in telephone rates, electricity rates and fuel prices, all at the same time. In a recent TV interview, Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla gave an example of what consumers could do to reduce the impact of the increases, which was to use the telephone less. Well, that is easier said than done, of course. Taking one's time when talking on the phone is a habit, and we all know that bad habits are not easily broken.
However, there are a couple of things that we can do to somewhat slow down the growth in our monthly electricity bills. But perhaps we first need to understand what makes our monthly bill so high.
* Avoid transformers
I brought a few devices back with me when I returned from the U.S. many years ago. Among them was a BBE sound expander, which I love very much. It really helps turn my cheap stereo amplifier into a reasonably good audio system. However, it requires 110 V instead of 220 V because it was made for the North American market.
I also bought a couple of other electronic appliances from Radio Shack, one of my favorite stores. I now use an intercom and a cordless headphone set. Granted, they also require 110 V. So, I ended up having two step-down transformers.
Rule Number One: If you have devices like these, get rid of them and buy ones at a local market. The transformers suck up electricity even when the BBE or the intercoms are not being used. Do you want proof? Just touch any of the transformers. It is hot, is it not? If it is hot, where does the energy come from?
Like the transformers, AC adapters are also popularly called power vampires. They consume electricity even when there is nothing at the end of the power cord. If you forget to unplug the AC adapter on your powered down notebook computer, it will still speed up your electricity meter. It consumes power, although perhaps not as much as it would when the notebook is turned on.
The same is true with chargers for cellular phones, PDAs, cordless phones, dial-up modems, shavers, digital cameras, MP3 players, Discman, Walkman, flashlights with rechargeable batteries and so many other gadgets that have become indispensable in our lives. The more of a gadget freak you are, the more chargers and AC adapters you are likely to have.
What can we do to make sure that all these chargers do not consume electricity when not needed? Certainly it would be too cumbersome to unplug the charger each time we are through recharging our cell phone's battery, for example. One solution is to use a power strip with an on/off switch. Some power strips even have a separate switch for each of the outlets.
Plug all the chargers and AC adapters that you have into this power strip, and when they are not in use simply press the switch.
* Power on standby
In the past 10 years or so, more and more electronic appliances, especially those that can be operated with remote controls, are left on all the time. These include TV sets, stereo amplifiers, DVD players, even computer monitors. Many of them have buttons that completely power down their systems, but we usually leave these buttons in the standby position.
Couch potatoes love the remote control, but then the equipment still use a small amount of electricity when we think they do not, and watt by watt all the equipment in your home can easily accumulate to drive up your monthly electricity bill. Try not to get too spoiled, and shut down devices completely if you are not using them. If they do not have such a button, buy a power strip.
Like TV sets, computer monitors are now designed to have instant-on capability. Press a button and in a few seconds the monitor will get warmed up enough to let you start working right away. If you are not a hyper-busy person, you do not need instant-on.
So, again, turn off the monitor completely. Newer LCD monitors like the NEC V1550 that I reviewed and the Eizo L685 that I bought recently have a button at the back that completely shuts down the monitor. When they are in "Sleep" mode, they still consume a tiny amount of electricity. Our goal is to reduce as much as possible the amount of electricity used by these vampire appliances.
Printers and scanners can also be vampire peripherals. Many of them, including my rather old HP LaserJet 6L and HP ScanJet 4100C, do not come with a power button. They will turn on by themselves the moment they sense that the host computer is sending them some signal. In the meantime, when idle, they also draw a small amount of electricity and drain the rupiah right out of our pockets without us even realizing it. Again, the quick answer is a power strip with an on/off switch.
Estimates on how much electricity is wasted per household vary by quite a bit. However, in the U.S. it is estimated that 4 percent to 5 percent of a household's monthly electricity bill is wasted. The Oct. 17 issue of Cornell Chronicle says the worldwide figure is 7 percent, with Australia 13 percent and Japan 12 percent on average. If you are a real gadget freak, the vampires may account for up to 25 percent of your monthly electricity bill.
There are a couple of things that we cannot avoid, unfortunately. For example, a cable modem has to be left on all the time, and so does the router that connects all the PCs at home. And PCs may last longer if they are left running instead of being powered up and down frequently. A UPS is also a must if you depend heavily on your computer data, and needless to say the UPS also consumes a lot of power.
Still, there are other things you can tell the other members of your family to do to avoid incurring unnecessary electricity costs. For example, tell them not to open the refrigerator unless they really need to. And, if they do open the door, quickly grab what they need and close the door immediately. Of course, reducing the frequency of your visits to the fridge not only helps reduce your electricity bill, but it may also help reduce your weight.