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We've previously covered how standby mode in game consoles suck. Well, it seems like many devices across the US are sucking a whole lot of power--$19 Billion/yr worth. That is just the US estimation, it is not extrapolated out across the globe.
Approximately $19 billion worth of electricity, equal to the output of 50 large power plants, is devoured annually by U.S. household electronics, appliances, and other equipment when consumers are not actively using them, according to a ground breaking study released today by the Natural Resources Defense Council.
The report, "Home Idle Load: Devices Wasting Huge Amounts of Electricity When Not in Active Use," found most of the devices either plugged in or hard-wired into America's homes consume electricity around-the-clock, even when the owners are not using them or think they are turned off. The annual cost for this vampire energy drain, which provides little benefit to consumers, ranges from $165 per U.S. household on average to as high as $440 under some utilities' top-tier rates.
"One reason for such high idle energy levels is that many previously purely mechanical devices have gone digital: Appliances like washers, dryers, and fridges now have displays, electronic controls, and increasingly even Internet connectivity, for example," says Pierre Delforge, the report's author and NRDC's director of high-tech sector energy efficiency. "In many cases, they are using far more electricity than necessary."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 08 2015, @08:47PM
i got a "base load" of about 350 watt.
the energy hogs i cant and wont turn off and get really pissed about when getting another blackout are my fridge and two servers.
the fridge is a two-door typ and one door goes to -18 deg. C (insta-cold-beer).
also there are assorted wifi backhauls and lan switches and whatnot.
pretty much on all the time.
dont get me wrong, energy efficient devices are always at first place on shopping list.
my aircon cost 20% more, is a inverter typ (DC motor) and has some wicked COP or EER or whatnot.
my two wifi APs are usb powered.
my lan switches are "green". 8 ports @ 5 watts?
this all said, i think we are again being "sheepeled".
there's a ton of free energy radiating from the central fusion plant also known as the sun everyday.
if the goverment doesnt mandate that electricity companies must implement/allow net-metering (at least) of self-generated grid conform electricity then i refuse to feel bad ...
fortunately a paradigm shift has occured in my mind and i installed just enough grid-tied solar power to cover my energy hogging "base load" because it allows me to make a statement: fuck you for trying to make me feel bad and trying to suck even more money from me for basic creature feature. obviously the whole (well nearly the whole) energy business is one big cabal and if they detect enough "guilt" in the general population they will drive up natural gas prices in the name of "saving the planet from energy hogs" without having to do anything to improve "their" network grid -aka- since you feel so bad about using electricity let me help you "save" by making it more expensive ...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 08 2015, @09:01PM
pay to fuck someone? sounds like a really really old business : )