A False Economy
response to GOOD magazine's post Vampire Energy
I need to correct this article!
You will not save the planet by turning off appliances completely! In fact you will do quite the opposite whilst costing yourself even more money.
Every time you completely turn your appliance off and back on when you want to use it you are burning out the components more quickly than if you leave it on standby!
Think about a light bulb, if you constantly flick it off and on it burns out much more quickly than if you leave it on. I'm not saying we should leave light bulbs on constantly it is merely by way of an analogy. So every time you turn your appliance fully off and then back on you are damaging it more than if you would just leave it on standby.
Therefore, the more you fully power off and on your appliance the sooner it will need replaced. Therefore you have to buy a new TV sooner than if you would just leave it on standby.
Also, the environmental cost of producing a new TV for you to buy far outweighs the environmental cost of you leaving your TV on standby mode!
So in summary, if you think you are saving money and the environment by stopping using "vampire energy", you are not!
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In theory, your argument makes sense, but... it doesn't seem like appliances were damaged/burning out more rapidly prior to the use of standby modes. Actually, it seems like TV's & stereos cease functioning at a more rapid rate today than they did before stand-by modes.
In addition, with rapid changes in technology, people are apt to be replacing appliances before they "burn out" in order to keep up with technology. If this is the case, then it doesn't matter if minor damage is done by turning appliances all the way off because the consumer will likely want to replace it before the effect of such damage affects the appliances ability to function.
Posted on January 27, 2008 — by wagginpitbull
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