Beating the credit crunch one gadget at a time - TechRadar UK

After taking a sneak peak at 8 easy ways to slash your tech power bills, and as the credit crunch continues to bite, it's arguably not the best time to blow your money on a big HDTV. No matter how good that Philips 47PFL9603D is. Instead, it's a good opportunity to have a look at what you already own and to consider whether your digital footprint is worth reducing.

And by 'digital footprint' I mean all the technology that costs you money on an ongoing basis. For starters, consider how many devices you have plugged in at home - TVs, set-top boxes, computers (and assorted peripherals), games consoles, DVD players, broadband routers, kettles, hairdryers, lamps... They're all sucking away at your electricity supply and upping your bill.

If you're not using these things, turn them off. Do you need your wireless network running overnight? Does the big Plasma really need to be left in standby? The convenience of standby mode isn't worth wasting the extra electricity. Power-saving devices like the Intelliplug and Bye-Bye Standby could be the answer.

Digital home meets eco home

With this in mind, I'm just about to start a (long overdue) digital home energy audit using a plug-in mains monitor. This will show me just how much electricity leakage I'm getting by leaving key entertainment devices on standby. I'll be writing up the results in a future blog post.

Beyond switching your devices off to save energy (and money), think about all of the digital home services that you pay for. Are you paying too much for your mobile phone? Are you subscribing to a service you rarely use? Check your broadband provider. Are you getting the best speed for the best price? Could you get a better package with TV and phone calls included?

And if you pay for your TV, could you scale back your satellite or cable subscription? Do you really watch all those channels? Freeview might have had a shaky start, but it's now more widely available. You can also buy boxes with built-in Freeview Playback technology that apes a Sky+ or Virgin box. Got a Sky dish? Then consider using it to get Freesat.

Optimising your home for winter

There's nothing 'digital' about home insulation, but it's the basis of optimising your home to be efficient in the Winter. Shut your curtains to keep the heat in. Or if you're a little bit more adventurous (i.e. geeky), fit your curtains with a Powercord electric curtain opener so they shut themselves.

Geekier still, why not try foil-backing your radiators? Really. Apparently putting tinfoil behind each radiator helps reflect heat back into the room. Here's a handy instructional video.

In the future, I'm tempted to look more seriously at offsetting my bills and service costs with a small-scale wind turbine and solar panels. Solar technology is improving all the time. US researchers have been developing a technique for printing solar cells onto flexible surfaces or that could be added to glass to turn any window into a solar panel.

I can wait. In the meantime, I can dial down my heating and wear a very big jumper.