Cutting the unknown cost of standby power
Ever given yourself a little nod of satisfaction as you walk out your front door, having just made sure that all the lights in the house are off? Unfortunately, you may not be saving as much electricity as you think. Standby power is the energy that is consumed by appliances even when they are sitting idle, and that power usage is one of the most significant sources of waste and expense in our homes. Televisions, computers, microwaves, cordless telephones and fax machines, and any appliance with a remote control are all big users of ‘leaking electricity’. It is estimated that just one television can add more than $20 in standby power to your annual electricity bill, and overall standby power will cost a typical Australian household up to $100 each year.
We’re not the only ones suffering
Then there’s the environmental impact of this ‘phantom power’. A desktop computer that is used for eight hours a day will generate up to 600kg of greenhouse gases over a year. Now think about how it’s estimated that 40% - 89% of a computer’s energy consumption is attributed to standby power -that is an environmental impact no one wants to be responsible for. Each single appliance may only use a small amount of standby power (typically 3-10 Watts), but with over five million households in Australia, that means we omit up to five million tonnes of carbon dioxide in wasted energy each year. Scary figures, huh?
The bright side of things
Luckily for us, there is some great energy efficient technology available to assist us in eliminating standby power usage in our homes. After all, who has the time (or memory) to run around the house switching off everything at the wall before they leave for the day, or go to bed at night? Well, the Jackson Master/Slave Powerboard automatically switches off all connecting appliances when it is linked to one main appliance. For example, if you connect the Powerboard’s ‘Master’ switch to your computer, and then connect your speakers, printer, gaming console, and fax machine to the ‘Slave’ socket, then when the computer is shut down, all power is cut off to the connecting appliances too. With one quick easy switch, any wasted energy is saved. And if that’s not saving enough energy for you, the powerboard itself only uses one watt of energy to run.
It also uses the same energy efficient technology to turn your appliances back on – when the ‘master’ appliance is turned back on, so too are all the peripherals connected to it. It is fully automatic, so doesn’t need any fidgety pre-setting or even any additional remote controls. Saving energy and reducing your power bill just got a whole lot easier.
