My son's first science project..

As promised here is the report of award winning science project.
It is surprise to see that most of the appliances when they are off and still plugged into the wall consume anywhere between 0 and 3 watts of energy. which is not a lot. especially modern laptops and cellphone chargers which comes with switch mode power supplies are more efficient in reducing the power when the appliance is turned off (0Watt). So we don't need to unplug them everyday. I believe the same technologies will extend to the modern TV and new appliances, as we move away from cathode ray tube monitors.
Please read the report and give me feedback. Also scientists out there keep in mind this is a kindergarten project!

Energy usage and wastage of home appliances

PROBLEM STATEMENT

How much electricity is used and wasted when an appliance is on and off.

HYPOTHESIS

I think lots of electricity and money is wasted when an appliance is plugged in to the wall outlet and not used. It is because the appliance is plugged all the time.

RESEARCH

From the research from internet it was written that lot of energy is wasted when the appliance is plugged into the wall and not used. Some appliances waste as much as 10% electricity even when they are turned off. I like to measure the energy used and see how much is wasted when the appliance is not used.

LIST OF VARIABLES

Manipulated variables

Appliance on

Appliance off

Appliance standby

Responding variable

Energy used

Controls

Constant electricity

Same meter

MATERIALS NEEDED

Energy meter

Appliances:

Old computer

Laptop computer

Old TV

New TV

Printer

CD player

Cell phone charger

PROCEDURE

1. Plug the energy meter in the wall outlet.

2. Plug the appliance in the meter

3. Take the energy measurement reading when ON, Off, and Standby conditions.

4. Repeat the measurements for all appliances.

RESULTS

Energy used by various appliances

APPLIANCE	ENERGY USED(WATTS)
	ON	OFF	STANDBY
NEW TV	301	1	274(screen saver)
OLD TV	88	1	1
LAPTOP	31	0	0
OLD COMPUTER	114	1	40(screen saver)
PRINTER	15	1	1
CD PLAYER	4	3	3
CELL PHONE CHARGER	2	0	0

CONCLUSIONS

1. The new TV uses lot more energy (301 Watts) than the old TV(88 Watts) because it is big.

2. The laptop computer uses less energy(31Watts) than old computer(114 Watts) because it is small.

3. All the appliances use way less (0-3 Watts) energy when they are turned off and they are still plugged into the wall.

4. Turning off the appliance is better than keeping it in standby for some appliances.

Conclusion statement

The appliances do not waste lot of energy when they are turned off even though they are plugged into the wall. This does not support the hypothesis.

Precautions taken

Always use an adult to plug and unplug appliances.

Lessons learned by this project.

Turning off lights and appliances when not needed will save lot of energy and money.

Turn off the computer after every use.