300,000 Tonnes CO2e Caused By Unused Internet Routers
If you read this blog on a regular basis, you’ll know that I am a big believer in making the small changes to your lifestyle that might seem almost pointless individually but can result in significant amounts of greenhouse gas emissions being saved when taken across the UK.
Last night I did a little experiment with my plug in energy monitor and my internet router to see what effect leaving it on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week might have. As you would expect, the power usage was fairly low but in the video I made shortly afterwards I explain why it is still important to turn yours off when it’s not in use. Proof once again that individuals can make a difference.
The calculations I mention in the video are:
- 4.6 watts = power used by my router
- 20 = hours per day left on unused
- 0.092 = kWh energy wasted per day
- 21,000,000 = households in the UK with internet
- 1,932,000 = kWh wasted by UK households each day
- 705,180,000 = kWh wasted by UK households each year
- 0.43 = kgCO2e per kWh
- 303,227.4 = tonnes of CO2e emitted per year
- 30,323 = equivalent number of people’s carbon footprint
- £4.0926 = cost to a household per year at 12p per kWh
- £84,621,600 = cost to UK economy each year
Knowing what you do now, will you be turning your router off when it’s not in use?
Chief writer and editor on Green Steve. Blogging since 2011, Steve likes to delve into a wide number of topics.
6 Responses to “300,000 Tonnes CO2e Caused By Unused Internet Routers”
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I dont think I will as the internet always seems to go wrong when I have turned it off. My little green tick starts flashing and says it is not connected and I will get frustrated. It I could be sure it would not do this I certainly would
That’s fair enough, while I encourage everyone to do as much as they can to reduce their carbon footprint, I understand that there will be times when it’s not possible for one reason or another.
3000,000 Tonnes… don’t you mean 300,000?
Ah yes thank you – you are the only one to have spotted that since I posted it! I have now amended the title.
I used to turn mine on and off but according to BT they see this, think there’s a problem and drop speed to the house until things stabilise. This of course isn’t a reason not to do it. It’s a reason for BT to stop being daft.
From what I have read, BT and other providers only think there is a problem when a certain threshold is reached in terms of dropped connections per hour. I turn my router off at night and then back on again in the evening when I want to use it – this has never affected my speeds at all.