Actually this is a very good point. People DO pay a lot of attention to the appliances and gadgets that consume electricity when "not in use". We unplug all cell phone/battery chargers, laptops are only plugged in to charge the battery, desktops and peripherals are turned off if not in use, the VCR we only use on occasion is only plugged in when needed. Even the coffee pot, (has a clock), and keeps the water ready 24 /7 is unplugged unless we are brewing coffee. We didn't replace the instant hot water dispenser in the kitchen, when the boiler burnt through, because it was always running and we didn't use it often. We make eevry effort to keep the deep freezer full, so it runs less, as well as the freezer compartment of the fridge. We too keep our thermostats at 68 during the day and 60 at night, we only have window AC, but that means we are only cooling the rooms we actually use not the entire house. We have changed as many light bulbs to CFL's ( I know they are only green until they need to be thrown away, but LED lights are wicked expensive). We don't turn on the out side lights at night unless they need to be on. Now there are things we could do but don't, the TV's are instant on, the only way to save there is to unplug them from the wall. Supposedly they won't loose theirr settings if you do this, and I know they don't short term i.e.brief power outage, moving from one room to the next etc, but I don't know about several hours or even days, not sure if I trust them.
So to find out that I am potentially throwing $5.00 a month away because my 722 is not really off when I turn it off is a real kick in the pants. Of course neither is the 322 although I'm sure it doesn't consume as much power in standby.
So is the op whining and complaining? NO! Because if you are making an effort to conserve resources and reduce what you pay out for electricity it is a shock to realize you could be saving $60.00 a year or more if our dish DVR's were designed to go into a true standby mode and only wake up if required to by either the a DVR timer or the request to watch TV.
If you think about the money you save by doing this, reducing errands (reducing the amount of gas you purchase), turning things off or unplugging them when not in use it can be significant and could be several hundred dollars a year, just depends on your lifestyle.
Let put it another way. I work for a small Public School District. The town has their own Light Department so rates are cheap (compared to National Grid) to begin with, plus the school does get a special rate. We instituted an energy management program 18 months ago, after expenses we have saved well over $350,000.00 in both electricity and natural gas expense. Most of what was done was changing folks habits, i.e. shutting down computers and peripherals nightly. Getting ride of all the "dorm size" refrigerators in class rooms, and replacing them with standard size energy star appliances in the teacher work room. We reduced hall way lighting (still with in OSHA standards), and all interior lights are off at night (the police prefer this) and a big reduction in external lighting too. There is a lot more but I think folks get the idea.
Ross
