Cut down on "standby power" usage

Each year, the average American household spends almost $1,400 on electricity to run appliances, power electronics, light the home, and much more. A chunk of that total, $110, is wasted as “standby power”—electricity that’s used even when appliances and electronic equipment are not active, according to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

That $110 might not seem like a lot of money to you, but it adds up to $11 billion each year and more than 108 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh)—or about 8 percent of the annual electricity consumption by the more than 105.5 million U.S. households.

And as American consumers fill their homes with more energy-hungry equipment—mammoth flat-screen TVs, legions of computers, and ever-more audio, video, and cellular equipment, which together can draw hundreds of “phantom” kWh per year—it’s not very surprising that the amount of standby power we use is projected only to increase.

The good news is that government and industry efforts are under way around the world to curb standby power through regulations and product-design changes. The International Energy Agency, for example, estimates that design changes alone could cut standby power by as much as 90 percent without sacrificing features that consumers want.

Some changes are already happening in this country. Last year, the state of California became the first place in the world to introduce mandatory standby requirements for various electronic devices. The new standards require a 90 percent reduction—from 5 watts to 0.5 watts—in standby power drawn by external power-supply cords for things like laptops and cell-phone chargers.

Manufacturers are also designing increasingly more products that qualify for the government’s voluntary Energy Star program, which requires that products meet strict standards for both standby power and active modes.

In the meantime, if paying for—and wasting—energy you’re not using sits as poorly with you as it does with me, you might want to consider simply pulling the plugs on some of your electric devices.

But such a move doesn’t always make sense for gear like a microwave oven or DVD player since they use standby power to light up displays and store programming information—nor is it very convenient. Instead, think about plugging in your computer and any peripherals you might have into a single power strip. I find that doing so alleviates any hassle because it means I only have to flick a single switch.—Kristi Wiedemann, Science and Policy Analyst, GreenerChoices.org

Essential information: To find out how to identify standby-power hogs in your home and learn practical tips for reducing electricity waste, check out “Is your home wasting watts?” on our free environmental Web site, GreenerChoices.org.

Comments

[Tom]

Are there any significant differemces among the various electricity usage meters / energy monitors in terms of accuracy?