Unplug it when you finish using it

Federica Formicola
Living with 4kWh a day
2 min readSep 18, 2022

Trying to figure out how much I consume and how many electrical appliances my flatmates and I usually use at home, I noticed that all the electrical appliances are plugged into the socket even if they are not used and therefore are perpetually on standby mode.

So I unplugged all possible appliances (except the fridge and the dishwasher) and asked my roommates to do the same.
For example, I noticed that we use the microwave very little, but nevertheless it is always plugged into the socket. I was shocked when I read that the microwave, if left on standby mode, is one of the appliances that consumes the most (about 3.05 kWh), even more if we leave the door open, in fact it can absorb up to 25.79 kWh.

The same goes for the the coffee machine, which is preheated every day for at least an hour to work, costs 100 watts/h, for a total of about 5 euros per year. If the machine is left without making coffee for some time, it is able to consume more than 1 watt per hour when it is not in use.

→ I put a reminder over each socket to remind me and everyone to unplug items from the socket when they finish using it.

--

--