Standby power is a something that is present in a great number of modern electrical devices. In simple terms it refers to the electric power (energy) consumed by electronic appliances while it is switched off or in a standby mode.

The amount of wasted standby power of a single electronic device is typically very small, often between 10 and 15 watts per device, but in some instances it can be more. Having multiple devices continuously plugged in can however equate to as much as 10 percent of total household energy consumption. You can check how much energy your devices are each using in standby mode with a watt meter.

I found this great article which talks about Eco Home Decoration. Here is an exerpt from their article: One of the ways you can make your eco house as environmentally friendly as possible is to decorate it using natural eco materials. Whether it’s the type of glass, paint or wood varnish you use, there are plenty of eco materials you can use for smartening up your eco home and looking after the environment at the same time. Using eco materials is also beneficial for the construction industry because they’re easy and cheap to produce. Eco materials contain natural, rather than synthetic, substances, so they can be harvested over and over again. And because they’re also biodegradable they can be easily disposed of, rather than pollute the earth after being dumped in a landfill site. For more info & products go to their site: eco-designer.co.uk

If you are not right into gardening, or do not want to go to the expense of fitting filters and pressure pumps to build an expensive rainwater system for your house, then try this. I have added several rainwater tanks to the property and am now collecting 160 litres of rainwater from my gutters for every 1ml of rain that falls. This is because I have a roof area of 160 square metres. I did not want to spend a lot of money on plumbing this rainwater into my toilet.