You may want to get off your sofa and switch off your TV at the socket the next time you are done watching. Apparently, the idiot box continues to drain your mains of power (10 watts for a CRT TV) even when turned off by a remote. The same goes for any electrical appliance which is connected to an external power supply or which comes with features like remote controls, digital clocks, or LCD panels. To turn them off you really need to turn them off – by unplugging them, or by turning off the mains socket your appliance is connected to. Otherwise the appliance will go into standby mode, drawing small amounts of power even if you are not using it – see that little green light in the corner of your TV?

A few watts per appliance may not sound like too much but given the number of electrical appliances we use in our homes, standby power can really add to overall energy consumption. Just consider this: a cell phone charger plugged into a socket will draw 1 watt of electricity even without the phone plugged in. With a plugged-in phone that is fully charged, it will continue to draw 4.5 watts more. Standby power on mini-stereos, home theatre systems and other household appliances can be between 10 to 15 watts per device, or even more. Studies conducted in the UK and the US have shown that standby power, or 'vampire power', accounts for 8 to 10 per cent of total domestic power consumption.

Switching off devices at the socket when they are not in use is the most effective way of minimising such power loss. Alternatively, one can make use of surge protectors, or line adaptors. These devices, into which your appliances are plugged, can be switched off, cutting supply to all your appliances in one go.

Vampire power contributes to 1 per cent of the total greenhouse gas emissions in the world. Switching off to save 30 kWh a month per household can mean upto 550 pounds less of CO2 emissions in the atmosphere per year.

A little extra effort may seem inconvenient but if you think of the long, dark winter to come, and the savings you can make on your energy bills, a flick of the switch won't seem too hard.