Stand by for some home truths about power consumption

From the Guardian:

"To leave my mobile phone charger on standby, plugged in but not charging, uses 0.009 kWh a day. So in effect, I could leave it on for over a year - 380 days - for it to have consumed the same power as running a bath, which for a single 90 litre soaking uses 3.5kWh."

"Let's take the microwave. On standby that uses 0.096 kWh per day. Yet having a single shower uses 1.4kWh. Therefore leaving the microwave on standby for 14 days uses the same power as having a 40 litre shower at 40C."

"If I leave it on standby all day, my 28in CRT TV eats 0.168 kWh per day. But if I leave it switched on all day it consumes an extra 1.2kWh."

I'm all for reducing waste, but I don't subscribe to a Luddite mentality.  That is sacrificing a technological convenience can't be the way forward, otherwise we might as well ban the iPod & take up the recorder.  If the article above is anything to go by turning off standby devices is nothing more than tokenism.  If you were really concerned about saving power you'd shave a minute or so off your shower time. 

Whenever I unplug my electric tooth brush charger.. I forget to plug it back in to my great frustration when I next clean my teeth. 

I try and make practical contributions;  make my lunch, bike to work, & combine multiple car trips.