Turn it off
Take a pledge to ditch stand-by mode and turn your appliances off when they're not in use. It's an instant way to save energy, cutting carbon emissions and your fuel bill.
The problem
When you pick up the remote control and hit the power button, the picture vanishes - it looks like you've turned off the TV.
But your TV isn't really off. It's sitting there on stand-by, consuming power 24 hours a day, year-round.
Over the course of a year, a household with two televisions will waste the energy equivalent of a 25 mile car journey, just through their TVs' stand-by power consumption.
10-15% of the average household electricity bill is attributable to power used by machines during their stand-by periods.
The combined effect of radios, computers and other appliances being left on stand-by is 4,000,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions in the UK each year.
These emissions are the result of fossil fuels being burnt at power stations to produce the electricity.
What you can do
Make a habit of turning off your appliances properly, rather than leaving them on stand-by.
If the appliance has a proper switch built-in, use it. If not, turn it off at the plug.
This is a great, green habit that can be introduced at work as well as in the home. If you work in an office, think of all the power you could save by persuading colleagues to shut down their computers and turn off monitors overnight.
M&S can help - we sell audio visual power saver plugs, which only supply power whilst your electrical items are switched on.
How to do it
Take a walk around your home - you may be surprised to discover just how many appliances, chargers and adapters have been left on stand-by, wasting power around the clock.
The average household wastes £37 each year by leaving appliances on standby.
So if you pledge to turn your appliances off properly, you'll be saving money on your electricity bill as well as helping to combat climate change.
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