Why You Should Always Unplug Your Electronics

Photo Credit: NYTimes

Electronic devices are used constantly in most individual's everyday lives, and a lot of people do not realize how much power they are actually using. One would think that when turning a device off that they are conserving power, however in most cases the devices still continue to draw power. To conserve power when a device is not in use, it should be completely turned off and unplugged. 

The amount of power each idle device is consuming may not appear to be a lot, but the number adds up over time. A study of Northern California, by the Natural Resources Defense Council, states that, "about a quarter of all residential energy consumption is used in idle power mode." In a dollar amount, this could add up to more than $19 billion in electricity bills per year on idle devices. This consumption of power represents more than a quarter of all carbon dioxide emissions within the United States. Turn off your electronics to save money, while reducing the amount of pollution in the world that contributes to climate change.

Electronics and appliances are becoming more energy efficient, but the energy consumed has actually doubled because of the number of electronics people have today. Around 36 percent of the population has a laptop, a tablet, and a smartphone. These devices are rarely turned off, which has contributed to the increase in consumed energy over the years. However, electronic devices are not the only problem, kitchen appliances draw a lot of energy. A study showed that using a coffee maker once a day consumes about 50 kilowatt-hours every year, which is more than some people around the world use in an entire year. 

There are ways that you can reduce your energy consumption easily. If you plug all of your main electronics or appliances into one power strip, you can simply turn them all off at once. However, you must be aware that devices with clocks or internet connections could lose information when unplugged. Another useful tip: never stream movies on your video game consoles; they use 45 times more power than streaming consoles. All in all, you should become aware of the amount of energy everything within your home is consuming and make changes. The carbon dioxide emissions that each household is creating with idle electronics can and should be avoided. Executing these simple changes will save you a lot of money and will create less climate-changing pollution.

Read More At: How Much Power Do Your Electronics Use

The Rise in Sea Level

Credit: www.climatecentral.org/

The impact that climate change has on the rise in sea level could be much greater than previously anticipated. According to German researchers, there are two factors that come to play in the rise - melting ice and the thermal expansion of water as it warms. Sea level expansion, now believed to be 1.4mm per year, is ever increasing as the years go by. This expansion has been greatly underestimated in the past, but now researchers are realizing just how much "heat-related expansion of the water mass in the oceans contributes to a global rise in sea level." The increase is not this cut and dry however, it can vary greatly from place to place. For example, the Philippines is said to be “rising at five times the global rate.”

The increased level of expansion is not unexpected. The rise in sea level is caused by global warming, and the average temperature has risen almost two degrees since the 1800s. Even with the global variation, climate change is the ultimate cause for increases everywhere. The harmful effects of global warming are so great that scientists have stated that if it was not a factor, sea levels may have actually fallen during the 20^th century. Climate change has been reported as the cause for three fourths of coastal flooding in the U.S. over the past ten years. Sea level increase is starting to be a big topic of conversation. “There’s a definite recognition among people who weren’t talking about sea level rise 5 years ago that it’s something to be concerned about,” said Laura Tam, a policy director at SPUR, which is an urban planning think-tank based in San Francisco. “And something that needs to be planned for.”

For more information: Climatecentral.org, Theguardian.com