Your church’s electronics still cost money when turned off or in standby mode. Although they may seem “off,” they are actually still consuming electricity. It is called standby power, and it costs Americans an estimated $4 billion extra per year.
FIRST, TURN THINGS OFF
Unfortunately, some do not even bother to turn their electronics off. Neglecting this simple step wastes a significant portion of a church’s budget. And if this is you, standby power is the least of your problems. Researchers at Choice recently tested the energy consumption of popular electronics and discovered:
- Sony Playstation 3
>> $260.76 yearly while on & playing
>> $228.28 yearly when left on & idle
>> $2.33 yearly while off (standby power) - Plasma TV
>> $232.10 yearly when left on
>> $1.13 yearly while off (standby power) - Xbox 360
>> $203.38 yearly while on & playing
>> $184.32 yearly when left on & idle
>> $3.16 yearly while off (standby power) - Desktop PC
>> 130.23 yearly when left on
>> $9.57 yearly while off (standby power) - iMac
>> $80.05 yearly when left on
>> $7.42 yearly while off (standby power) - LCD Monitor
>> $43.13 yearly when left on
>> $2.14 yearly while off (standby power) - DVD Player
>> $34.42 yearly while on & playing
>> $27.25 yearly when left on & idle
>> $1.77 yearly while off (standby power)
If your church youth group has a game room, be sure the Playstations and Xboxes are turned off after service. Turn off the DVD players in your children’s ministry after using them. Have staff turn off their computers at the end of the day. These small habits can save your church thousands of dollars each year.
SECOND, PREVENT STANDBY POWER
There are ways to prevent standby power. In fact, here are five quick fixes.
- Manually Unplug Devices
It is so simple but too inconvenient for many. - Remote Control Sockets
Turn off power outlets via remote control. This is an extremely useful option for hard to reach places. - Smart Power Strip
When you turn your computer off (or another primary device), the power strip automatically turns off power to the other power strip sockets. - Timer Power Strip
Since many church electronics are only used at specific times each week, why not get a power strip with a timer. - Buy Energy Star
The best way to reduce energy consumption (standby or actual use) is to simply purchase more efficient products.
For Discussion:
- What are your energy saving tips for churches?
[via The New York Times]
Great post, thanks. There are many reasons for “going green” as a church but most will be financially motivated. That’s definitely a great place to start.
Jason Powell of Granger Community Church is doing an internal study on this for their IT infrastructure..
http://jpowell.blogs.com
@Mark
Thank you for the heads up about Jason Powell’s project. For those of you who are interested, here is how his project is going:
http://jpowell.blogs.com/jason_powell_church_it/2008/04/it-power-consum.html
http://jpowell.blogs.com/jason_powell_church_it/2008/05/it-power-consum.html
http://jpowell.blogs.com/jason_powell_church_it/2008/05/it-power-cons-2.html
Kent, thanks for this post and the links to Jason Powell’s project. Very inspiring.
Along a different line, a woman in our church offered to collect plastic water bottles for recycling $ for the youth group. Before we knew it, she had deposited over $1200. One woman!
Although it’s not related to energy consumption, the point is that there is so much we can all do, individually and together, to conserve, save and recycle. Saving church funds makes great sense as does being good stewards.
Good article.
We sell “Bye Bye Standby” - a standby power saving system and I couldnt agree with you more about the waste of money devices on standby cause.
Well done in highlighting this issue,
Regards
Darryl Mattocks.
If a church member(treasuer) is found stealing money from the church, are they required to bring charges?
Amount 25000- 50000.
@Jose
I am not expert and thus unable to say what is “required” or not. However, large thefts are usually best reported and charged.