Cutting Energy Use Inside Your House
One way to cut energy use at home is by turning off and unplugging all electrical equipment when not in use. TVs and some other appliances use electricity even when they are not on so they can come on quickly when you turn on the switch.
Plugging equipment such as a TV/VCR/DVD system into a power bar and using the power bar switch to turn the whole system off and on can eliminate these "phantom" electrical loads. That way, phantom loads will be eliminated when the system is not in use. This approach is a lot handier than unplugging each device. The wait time for warming up the equipment is usually just a minute or so.
Computers use more power than most electronic equipment and appliances. The electrical cost of operating the average desktop computer system with a monitor and printer is about $150 a year, if the equipment is left on all the time.
By comparison, operating a refrigerator costs only about $130 per year. Leaving a VCR on all the time would cost $31.00 and a stereo system would cost around $23.00.
By turning off the computer at the end of every workday, you should be able to save at least $100 a year while reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. Putting a computer in sleep mode also cuts energy use by about 95 percent, so program your computer to go to sleep when not in use for more than five minutes.
A laptop computer is about 10 times as efficient as a desktop-average annual electrical costs for operating a laptop left on all the time are only $15. Using a laptop and turning it off or putting it to sleep when not in use is the most environmentally friendly option of all.