Sust-it Blog

Don't give yourself a headache when your electricity bill arrives

Firstly you must consider the size of your room and the distance you are viewing the TV from. Then determine if you have Standard Definition (normal broadcast television through an aerial), or are intending to get a High Definition (HD – Freesat HD or Sky HD) set-top box or Blu-Ray player?Finally, there’s the cost implications of running an oversized TV, and its impact on your energy bills and the environment.

High Definition (Satellite/Cable) or Standard Definition (aerial)

If you are not intending to get high definition (HD) don’t go over 40 inches: Why? Standard definition (SD) TV is only broadcast at a low resolution, so all you’re doing is enlarging a poor quality image. Text will looked jagged and images will be soft or pixelated. However, if you’re viewing the TV from further away it may not be as noticeable.

With High Definition the images are far more detailed, allowing you to have a larger screen as the images are sharper and you can sit closer to them without them seeming blurred – like computer monitors.

Viewing distance to television screen calculator

Our top ranking energy saving televisions are:

• 26 inch Sony KDL-26V4000 costs £18.53 to run a year
• 32 inch Toshiba 32RV635DB costs £25.78 to run a year
• 37 inch Sony KDL-37V4000 costs £33.02 to run a year
• 40 inch Sony KDL-40WE5W costs £32.76 to run a year
• 42 inch Toshiba 42RV635DB costs £38.66 to run a year
• 46 inch Sony KDL-46V3000 costs £63.43 to run a year
• 52 inch Sony KDL-52V4000 costs £59.61 to run a year

Think Panasonic and we usually think energy hungry plasma screens – not this time. They have come up with a very impressive A++ Fridge Freezer that has gone straight to the top in our energy efficiency charts. This impressive looking appliance uses a new U-Vacua - Vacuum Insulation Panel developed by Panasonic, which saves internal space. This helps to explain way it tops our chart as sust-it calculations are based on internal space divided by the electricity used.

Panasonic A++ Fridge Freezer tops our energy efficiency charts

We’ve now optimised sust-it’s energy efficiency site for you lucky iPhone owners, it’s now fast and easy to browse over 3000 thousand products on the move. The new menus work just like your iPod touch or iPhone and all the graphics have been scaled down for fast loading. You can now checkout the energy efficiency of washing machines, TVs or fridges when out shopping or travelling, see electricity running costs over the year, or what they use in standby. Comparing the potential savings of buying energy electricals, or compare retailers best deals with kelkoo’s price comparison site – is easy when you’ve sust-it!

Have you got your electricity bill handy? or are checking out the latest confusing electricity tariffs? If you are considering changing supplier – as prices are falling, we’ve now made it easier for you to see what your home costs to run. Simply enter your own tariff into sust-it’s energy calculator and see the figures.

Watching Woollies disappear from our high streets was a sad reflection of the times, but I must admit to joining in the free-for-all crush in the run-up to Christmas, searching for bargains. I was checking out their discounted energy saving light bulbs, as a couple of our halogen spots had blown – unfortunately they didn’t stock these anyway.

Over the years, we’ve been changing all our energy hungry halogen spotlights in our office as they’ve blown, replacing them with super energy efficient ones, which use only 9w compared to 40w of the halogens. In comparison to normal bulbs these are very expensive but should last between 10000 to 15000hrs (that’s nearly 7 years, at 6hrs a day) “great”, no more changing bulbs! The only problem is we are experiencing is lots of failures, with the bulbs only lasting the same as the original halogens and in some cases less! We’ve even started trying some LED versions, which should last 25 years! However, one of these started going on the blink this week. Is anyone else out there experiencing the same problems? If so, please make contact so we can compare how long these bulbs are actually lasting.

Finally… One of my pals has just bought a 42” plasma for 50 quid.

I asked why it was so cheap and he told me it’s because the volume button doesn’t work, but at that price he couldn’t turn it down!

Energy saving GU10 spotlights

I must admit when MultiShower contacted us regarding a showerhead that reduces your energy bills, I was a little sceptical. Now having spent a couple of months using their MultiShower showerhead, we can report back that it does work. How? By creating the elusions that you are in a more powerful shower than you actually are, while delivering less water. Which means we are using less of our hot water every shower, giving us a double saving in our water and electric bills.

The showerhead has a cleaver mechanism that creates soft pulses, which are undetectable in use, more information can be found at www.multishower.com

There seems to be an urban myth surrounding how much electricity your TVs and Hi-Fi’s consume in standby. The latest Flat-screen TVs, DVD players consume less power in standby (0.6w or costing 63p per year to run) than some of the Standby Savers themselves (1w or £1.05 per year to run). Infact, the most energy hungry equipment under your television are the Satellite / Digital Set-Top Box and DVD/VHS hard disc recorders, which you’re not meant to switch off anyway – as they update programme schedules and software in the wee hours, or have clocks.

So what’s the payback on standby savers? If you plug in four boxes all consuming 0.6 watts = £2.52 less (running the standby saver) £1.05 = £1.47 per year. Cost to buy the standby saver £21.95 payback nearly 15 years!

Here are some simple energy saving tips that don’t cost a mint

• When replacing Electricals or Appliances buy the most energy efficient ones you can afford and make huge savings long-term!
• Become ‘Energy Aware’ - Buy an energy meter, or read your meter regularly.
• As your bulb blow replace them with energy saving bulbs.
• Put your Satellite / Digital Set-Top and videos on a separate extension socket from your other equipment, and switch off the rest at night – preferably at the plug.
• Shutdown your PC when not in use and switch off at the wall, as some computers and peripherals still draw power even when off!

Are Standby savers a waste of cash?

Somewhat ironically, after just taking a pop at the Bosch’s advertising campaign, I have heard that sust-it.net has been shortlisted for an award for the Best Campaign in advertising industry’s high-profile Green Awards. Without funding or sponsorship sust-it.net has managed to gain a good deal of PR, which is crucial in driving users to the site. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for the awards night.

The planet is very fragile; our limited energy resources are becoming increasingly scarce; and the cost of this energy is surging.

These are the opening lines from the Bosch Planet Savers competition website; so, what do you win if you enter this fantastic planet saving competition? Yep, that great planet saving prize of a long-haul flight to Florida to watch the space shuttle take off! Let’s hope your Bosch appliance lasts long enough to offset all those carbon emissions you contribute to and witness on the trip – bon voyage!

PS I would recommend Bosch consider recycling their Ad agency

Bosch’s planet savers advertising campaign

Sust-it is continually looking to refine our energy efficacy database to reflect which products are the best. Fridges and freezers are one area where being small had a major impact on where the products appeared in our energy saving rankings – which was misleading. We’ve now addressed this issue by comparing the electricity consumptions with the actual storage capacity of the fridges and freezers. This allows you to compare the cost per cubic foot of refrigeration storage space and identify those real performance stars.

Top energy savers fridges and freezers include:

Upright Fridges – Miele K9554IDF
Undercounter Fridges – Liebherr KTPES1554
Larder Fridges – Liebherr KB4260
Undercounter Larder Fridges – Liebherr KTPES1750
Fridge Freezers – Smeg FAB40X
Upright Freezers – Whirlpool AFG8131
Frost Free Fridge Freezers – Hotpoint RTM70S
Chest Freezers – Liebherr GTP4726
American Style Fridge Freezers – AEG SANTO 75578KG1