I, Tim Jones, promise to switch off standby

Potential savings could be 1 police call boxes full of CO₂ and £33 per year

Advice to help you fulfil your promise

Switch off Sally says: "Don't Standby!"

An electrical appliance left on standby isn't really off because standby mode can use up to 90% of the normal power. 

TVs, DVD players and set top boxes are all notorious for having standby settings.

Games consoles are one of the worst offenders as they remain in permanent idle mode consuming almost the same power as when playing a game. 

People in the UK have an ever-growing number of electrical devices, currently averaging about 25 gadgets per house.

Homes spend 6-10% of their electricity bills on wasted standby energy. A survey by the Energy Saving Trust found that the average household has up to 12 gadgets left on standby or charging at any one time.

Almost a billion pounds of electricity is wasted in the UK every year by people leaving appliances on standby! If everyone in Sheffield quit using standby, around 3000 tonnes of carbon dioxide would be saved and  £8m worth of energy could cut from bills annually – roughly enough to pay the energy bills of 8000 homes.

According to the International Energy Agency, 1% of global carbon dioxide emissions are due to standby power usage.  If the whole world followed suit, it would avoid about 240 million tonnes of CO₂ from being released.

By 2020, UK households will have an average of 3 television sets. Computers, entertainment and gadgets will account for 45% of electricity used in the home. This will need the equivalent of 14 average size power stations just to run them!

Citizens of Sheffield - do your bit!

Don't standby. Turn off all your appliances at the mains or pull the plug out. Click here to take the Switch Off and Save Online Challenge, a fun way to know which appliances you can turn off when not in use and save energy and money!

If you are finding it hard to get into the habit of switching off appliances properly, there are a number of gadgets on the market now that will do it for you. Get yourself an energy-saving mains controller which will automatically switch off the extra applinacnes linked to your TV and PC (printers, monitors, digital boxes) when you turn off the machine.

Sustainable Housing and Affordable Warmth

The Sustainable Housing and Affordable Warmth team at Sheffield City Council has advice about saving money on energy bills on the council website or you can email shawteam@sheffield.gov.uk.

The Energy Saving Trust

The Energy Saving Trust display their logo on all products that are energy efficient. This is your guarantee that the product will save energy, cost less to run and help the environment. For more information and for other energy saving tips, visit the Energy Saving Trust website.

How's Sheffield doing?

Promises made by the people of Sheffield have the potential to save 528,972 kg of CO₂ per year.

Who else has made this promise?

Your Community Assembly

261

carbon promises have been made by people in South West Sheffield

70,299

kg of CO₂ will be saved if people in South West Sheffield keep their carbon promises