Electric Vampires
Sent to me by Tammy through Doug of Vestal UMC's Green Team:
By JULIE CARR SMYTH - Associated Press Writer
COLUMBUS, Ohio(AP) A force as insidious as Dracula is quietly sucking a nickel of every dollar's worth of the electricity that seeps from your home's outlets.
Insert the little fangs of your cell phone charger in the outlet and leave it there, phone attached: That's vampire electronics.
Allow your computer to hide in the cloak of darkness known as "standby mode" rather than shutting it off: That's vampire electronics.
The latest estimates show 5 percent of electricity used in the United States goes to standby power, a phenomenon energy efficiency experts find all the more terrifying as energy prices rise and the planet warms. That amounts to about $4 billion a year.
The percentage could rise to 20 percent by 2010, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
In California, lawmakers passed a proposal last year _ dubbed the Vampire Slayers Act _ to add vampire electronics labels to consumer products, detailing how much energy a charger, computer, DVD player, PlayStation, microwave or coffee maker uses when on, off or in standby mode.
"It's something people don't know about," said Dave Walton, home ideas director for Direct Energy, a utility and energy services company that has one of its four main offices in Dublin, Ohio.
The issue is particularly pressing in Ohio, the nation's No. 1 emitter of toxic air emissions _ mostly from electricity production at the state's coal-fired power plants. Walton said skyrocketing energy costs mean everyone should worry about the vampires in the house.
The International Energy Agency has estimated standby energy use by vampire electronics at 200 to 400 terawatt-hours a year. The entire country of Italy consumes about 300 terawatt-hours of electricity each year, according to the agency.
Picture any appliance that displays a clock while otherwise idle, such as a microwave oven, coffee maker or DVD player. They constantly consume little bits of energy.
"About 40 percent of the electricity being used to power your home electronics is consumed while they are in that standby mode," Walton said. "If you just focus on that piece, you will be making a big step."
Ditto for things that charge, such as cell phones, PDAs, toothbrushes or portable tools, some of which trickle a charge even after the device that's charging is at capacity.
Some chargers halt the flow of current when it's not needed, which should happen automatically with chargers for lithium-ion batteries. If you're uncertain, Walton advises unplugging chargers when not in use.
He recommends hooking up your home computer system, including accessories like a printer or scanner, to a single power strip that can be easily switched off each night. He advises shutting off the other vampires too, though the inconvenience of resetting the clocks, channels and timers on those devices each morning will discourage most people.
The government-backed Energy Star program, coordinated jointly by the U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, identifies appliances that consume less energy.
If one in 10 American homes used only appliances endorsed through the program, the Energy Department estimates, it would reduce U.S. carbon emissions by the same amount as planting 1.7 million acres of trees.
From AboutMyPlanet.com
Vampire electronics suck! Literally! These are electronics that use energy even when seemingly turned off or idle. CNN recently did a video report about these electronics and found that even some washing machines, when you turn them off, still suck energy. Many homes have up to 50 vampire devises. For example, a turned on DVD player uses 11.32 watts, and when it's turned off it still uses about 6 watts of energy. A home computer uses around 60 watts in standby.
From GrinningPlanet.com
Exact figures on total losses to standby power are not available, but the most recent major survey on the subject estimated that in the United States, 5% of electricity usage is due to standby power. In Europe, the numbers run slightly higher: France at 7% and Germany and the Netherlands at 10% each. Australia comes in at 11%, Japan at 12%.
There's a cool little gadget available that can help you determine which of your plug-in items are the most inefficient power consumers. It's the Kill-A-Watt electricity usage monitor. You just plug it into the wall outlet and then plug your electrical device into the Kill-a-Watt monitor. It will allow you to assess how efficient the electrical device is. You can calculate the item's electrical cost by the day, week, month, or year to help you decide whether a more efficient model would save you money over time
The amount of standby power wasted varies among electronic equipment, but overall, the cost to consumers and businesses for all the electricity lost to vampire power in the US is estimated to be $4 billion annually. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates the global energy consumption due to standby power at between 200-400 terawatts per year.
Not all of this vampire power is truly wasted—after all, many of the features in modern electronics that require standby power are either critical for proper functioning of the unit or are associated with desirable features. Most wasted standby power is consumed by inefficient power supplies and components that are getting power unnecessarily. An Australian study of global standby power usage in electronic devices estimated that electronics manufacturers could reduce vampire power by 30% right off the bat just by using existing, better technologies—and with minimal additional cost to consumers.
By JULIE CARR SMYTH - Associated Press Writer
COLUMBUS, Ohio(AP) A force as insidious as Dracula is quietly sucking a nickel of every dollar's worth of the electricity that seeps from your home's outlets.
Insert the little fangs of your cell phone charger in the outlet and leave it there, phone attached: That's vampire electronics.
Allow your computer to hide in the cloak of darkness known as "standby mode" rather than shutting it off: That's vampire electronics.
The latest estimates show 5 percent of electricity used in the United States goes to standby power, a phenomenon energy efficiency experts find all the more terrifying as energy prices rise and the planet warms. That amounts to about $4 billion a year.
The percentage could rise to 20 percent by 2010, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
In California, lawmakers passed a proposal last year _ dubbed the Vampire Slayers Act _ to add vampire electronics labels to consumer products, detailing how much energy a charger, computer, DVD player, PlayStation, microwave or coffee maker uses when on, off or in standby mode.
"It's something people don't know about," said Dave Walton, home ideas director for Direct Energy, a utility and energy services company that has one of its four main offices in Dublin, Ohio.
The issue is particularly pressing in Ohio, the nation's No. 1 emitter of toxic air emissions _ mostly from electricity production at the state's coal-fired power plants. Walton said skyrocketing energy costs mean everyone should worry about the vampires in the house.
The International Energy Agency has estimated standby energy use by vampire electronics at 200 to 400 terawatt-hours a year. The entire country of Italy consumes about 300 terawatt-hours of electricity each year, according to the agency.
Picture any appliance that displays a clock while otherwise idle, such as a microwave oven, coffee maker or DVD player. They constantly consume little bits of energy.
"About 40 percent of the electricity being used to power your home electronics is consumed while they are in that standby mode," Walton said. "If you just focus on that piece, you will be making a big step."
Ditto for things that charge, such as cell phones, PDAs, toothbrushes or portable tools, some of which trickle a charge even after the device that's charging is at capacity.
Some chargers halt the flow of current when it's not needed, which should happen automatically with chargers for lithium-ion batteries. If you're uncertain, Walton advises unplugging chargers when not in use.
He recommends hooking up your home computer system, including accessories like a printer or scanner, to a single power strip that can be easily switched off each night. He advises shutting off the other vampires too, though the inconvenience of resetting the clocks, channels and timers on those devices each morning will discourage most people.
The government-backed Energy Star program, coordinated jointly by the U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, identifies appliances that consume less energy.
If one in 10 American homes used only appliances endorsed through the program, the Energy Department estimates, it would reduce U.S. carbon emissions by the same amount as planting 1.7 million acres of trees.
From AboutMyPlanet.com
Vampire electronics suck! Literally! These are electronics that use energy even when seemingly turned off or idle. CNN recently did a video report about these electronics and found that even some washing machines, when you turn them off, still suck energy. Many homes have up to 50 vampire devises. For example, a turned on DVD player uses 11.32 watts, and when it's turned off it still uses about 6 watts of energy. A home computer uses around 60 watts in standby.
From GrinningPlanet.com
Exact figures on total losses to standby power are not available, but the most recent major survey on the subject estimated that in the United States, 5% of electricity usage is due to standby power. In Europe, the numbers run slightly higher: France at 7% and Germany and the Netherlands at 10% each. Australia comes in at 11%, Japan at 12%.
There's a cool little gadget available that can help you determine which of your plug-in items are the most inefficient power consumers. It's the Kill-A-Watt electricity usage monitor. You just plug it into the wall outlet and then plug your electrical device into the Kill-a-Watt monitor. It will allow you to assess how efficient the electrical device is. You can calculate the item's electrical cost by the day, week, month, or year to help you decide whether a more efficient model would save you money over time
The amount of standby power wasted varies among electronic equipment, but overall, the cost to consumers and businesses for all the electricity lost to vampire power in the US is estimated to be $4 billion annually. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates the global energy consumption due to standby power at between 200-400 terawatts per year.
Not all of this vampire power is truly wasted—after all, many of the features in modern electronics that require standby power are either critical for proper functioning of the unit or are associated with desirable features. Most wasted standby power is consumed by inefficient power supplies and components that are getting power unnecessarily. An Australian study of global standby power usage in electronic devices estimated that electronics manufacturers could reduce vampire power by 30% right off the bat just by using existing, better technologies—and with minimal additional cost to consumers.
posted by Leslie at
10:15 PM
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