On Mar 13, 8:33 pm, wrote:
In message .com
"Jack )"
wrote:

Now what would encourage me to use less electricity would be
information just how much that TV on standby (for example) is actually
using. It cannot be difficult to devise a "master panel" that can be
fitted into home circuits so you can see just what each appliance/

Except that there is a little thing called the law of conservation of
energy. Energy cannot be "used".

So where does the extra energy go when we leave our TVs on standby, or
use a conventional light bulb? The answer is it is converted to heat.
Which warms the rooms in your house. which means that your
thermostaically controlled central heating system uses correspondingly
less fuel to maintain your chosen temperature.

If all our electricity was nuclear or hydroelectric then it would be
fair game. But since the electricity was almost certainly made by
burning fossil fuels with a thermodynamic efficency of 36% (45% very
best case). So in using electricity to generate heat in your house you
burn 2 to 3x the amount of fossil fuel somewhere and emit a
correspondingly larger amount of CO2.

So by reducing the heat generated by your lighting and entertainment
systems, you increase the fuel required by your heating system. I
fail to see how this will reduce carbon emissions.

Because of the inherent inefficiency of the power station and
electricity grid transmission.

That said there are some well designed standby consumer devices that
draw only a few microwatts. And others like cheap cordless phone
chargers that draw stupid amounts of current continuously to no good
end.

Regards,
Martin Brown