Did you know that there are appliances in your home right this minute that are using energy even though they are turned off? Good deeds come in so many different shapes and sizes. Sometimes, all you need to do is smile at someone to make a difference in that person’s life. This is how good deeds work, they change the lives of others in small or big ways. The size of the deed will absolutely never matter, it is all about the effort, the thought. That is why when you unplug appliances to save energy you are also doing a good deed.
You could start to unplug appliances to save energy as a good deed that could change not only the lives of others but the world.
Standby Energy for Good
There is a thing called “standby electricity loss”. This is when an appliance uses energy even when it is not in use. We call it standby electricity loss because most appliances go into standby or idle mode and that is when this occurs. There are many appliances that do this and some you may not even realize. For example, your television does it but did you know that your phone charger does too? Anything with a mini transformer can do this including TVs, stereos, routers, printers, chargers, cable boxes. In fact, you could walk around your home right this instant and count up the appliances you are not using that are still plugged in. The Department of Energy claims that almost 25% of your energy bill comes from standby electricity loss.
Not About Savings
You can unplug appliances to save energy and you will recoup some of those savings. However, it is not about the savings you will make. In fact, you might only walk away saving about $20 a year by unplugging your appliances when not in use. But there is something else you are doing that leads us to the good deed. The energy that those appliances use up, even when you’re not using them, can equal a year’s worth of the output from 17 power plants; combined. That is where the deed comes in. You could live safer, use up less energy, and do your part in lowering pollution.
Making it Easy
There are many ways you could make it easy to unplug appliances to save energy. You could use power strips instead. Plug appliances in like your TV, sound system, etc. into the power strip. Then, you just need to unplug one thing instead of all of those things. In fact, some power strips come with the ability to completely stop using power at the flip of a switch. There are a lot of appliances you could unplug to save energy. Computers, laptops, chargers, TVs, modems, cable boxes, coffeemakers, lamps, toasters, stereos, gaming consoles, all of these things can be unplugged when not in use.
This is a good deed that not only saves you a bit of money but also helps save energy for the country. You will be changing the lives of more people than you may realize and while they may not notice it, you will know.
