Parents have been telling children for generations to turn things off if they’re not being used. There is nothing new to this point; it’s basically common sense. It usually doesn’t take much effort to turn off lights, but some items are trickier – having to reach a hand into a small space to reach the power plug, or something like that. My reason for this post, however, goes back to the light switch. It’s easy and it has a large impact, and I seem to be the only person who turns off the lights in the men’s toilets at work when I leave the empty room. The topic of power consumption has also been coming up a lot recently, partially due to the Christmas holidays. In fact, Spark had had to split the topic across two posts to handle the comments.

Most electronic things have two states they can exist in. They can be either on or off[1]. Sub-dividing this into further states, on is composed of in use and wasted. Conversely, off can be subdivided, but neither sub-state contributes to consumption. This is all obvious – to minimise waste, lights should only be on when in use. Somehow, this point is missed in practice. More people should have listened to their parents. When I leave a room, at least, the light is either off or in use. Hopefully, I can guide others by example².

¹ Yes, this ignores various low-power modes that the item may have – but even low-power modes still draw power, which is the purpose of this entry: reducing power consumption.

² And expand my habits to a bunch of other electronic idlers around the house.