NSBR- Going green and your video machines

[Brooke W]

Who'd of thought what huge energy hogs those things are! I was reading an article in the Living Green section on Yahoo. Read it here (http://green.yahoo.com/blog/the_conscious_consumer/21/stop-wasting-money-video-games-and-energy-efficiency.html)
Seriously, I had no idea these consoles would be such energy hogs.

[FlirtatiousBrat]

why would you leave it on if not using it? We use as much energy with our computers lol...my kids don't play too often maybe 5 hours a week including the weekends...not much

[lizzyfizzy]

i know!! isn't that crazy!!

we are a turn lights off behind you, compact flouresent, recycling, energy star efficient appliances, cold water clothes washing, furnace filter changing family!! i have actually thought of hooking all of our entertainment stuff up to a power surge plug thing and then turning that off when stuff is off, cause it still uses so much energy when stuff is turned "off".

[ColleenSwerb]

Lizzy if you do that, be careful. It's better to unplug the surge protector from the wall, than to just turn it off. If it's off, it's not protecting anything.

Jordan is the energy Nazi in our house. All system are shut down when we go to bed, and everything is unplugged completely when we're on vacation.

[lizzyfizzy]

Lizzy if you do that, be careful. It's better to unplug the surge protector from the wall, than to just turn it off. If it's off, it's not protecting anything.

what do you mean? i wouldn't do the surge protector to protect the appliances. did you mean leaving the surge protector in the wall turned off won't conserve any energy? i should just unplug the surge protector all together when we are not using them?

[ColleenSwerb]

what do you mean? i wouldn't do the surge protector to protect the appliances. did you mean leaving the surge protector in the wall turned off won't conserve any energy? i should just unplug the surge protector all together when we are not using them?

If you want to conserve energy while using a surge protector, you don't want to turn the surge protector off and leave it plugged into the wall. Then if something happens and there's a surge, anything plugged into it will not be protected because it's turned off. Turning it off but leaving it plugged into the wall is just like plugging the electronics themselves directly into the wall. They can still be damaged. If you turn it off, you are conserving energy, but you're not protecting them from electrical damage.

So, instead of turning the surge protector off and leaving it plugged it, turn it off and then unplug it from the wall completely.

[Brooke W]

I hear you about all that lizzy. We've had fluorescent almost since they came out. Do laundry in cold water, etc.
We don't have any game consoles and it just never dawned on me how much energy they use because of that.

[ColleenSwerb]

Fizz, didja see this? just wanted to make sure you saw my explanation :)

We carpool to work, have all the uber efficient appliances, the good light bulbs. Our county makes recycling practically impossible but I want to start that up again.

[kscwgirl]

I don't get why people would leave the gaming systems on though. That's just senseless.........

[Darcy Baldwin]

laziness LOLOL

Our computers stay on all night. I can't convince hubby that SETI@Home (http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/) (search for extra terrestrial intelligence) isn't really going to miss one less packet per computer per day, but he is ranked up kind of high for civilians who aren't on mega servers, and it's just something he does LOL. So all 3 big computers stay on 24/day. But the boys' computers are only on during the time they play. Monitors are always off (not just in sleep mode) when not in use.

[my4boys]

DH & I shut our lappy's down completely at night but the desktop stays on :cursing: unless someone notices it and shuts it down.....we do use those new funky lightbulbs that will KILL you if you break them.....cold water laundry except whites.....turn off all lights if NOT in the room.....energy star appliances.....RECYCLE whores.....I also us Vinegar and water for most of my cleaning (Bathrooms get Clorox Clean-up) so I guess I am pretty good!!!

I do drive a Ford Expedetion though, does that make me a bad person????

[tuneskids]

I always turn off my gaming consoles ... they are loud when on and you are trying to do something else! lol Everything gets shut off every night, if it hasn't already been shut off after us.
Also recycle, cold water wash, use those new lights (although after watching the news this week, we are buying all new ones - the ones that you can see the coils are not as good for skin sensitivites and light headaches as the ones that are coiled but covered - could explain my headaches I seem to get randomly!).

[Brooke W]

That's interesting about the new ones. Thanks for the update on those :thumbup: