Whilst I was guiding groups of home owners through my friends’ sustainable house on Open Day I was privy to a rather telling situation. I had many things to mention; the removal of down-lights, the blocking up of all gaps in the house, lights and power usage.  My spiel included mentioning the number of watts various home appliances consumed when plugged into power but not being used.

Me:  “We took some readings on this meter before you arrived and this is the data we got”.

Before I got to the figures SHE looked at HIM and her eyes spoke, “I told you there’s energy use when the power’s on at the wall.” HIS eyes rolled in complete surrender as
if SHE’D won another round. There’d obviously been some discussion around this point.  I went on.  “Computers sap 15 watts lying idle but plugged in.  Washing machines-6 watts….”

Have you wondered about the appliances around your house and how you could reduce your environmental footprint?