Vampires Among Us!

Did you know that standby power, the power consumed by electronic devices in the “off” mode, amounts to nearly 5% of U.S. residential electricity usage? Home electronic products use energy when they're off to power features like clock displays and remote controls. That 5% wasted energy is over 64 million megawatt hours or the equivalent output of more than 15 average power plants!

Standby energy consumption also costs American consumers about $3 billion annually. The global numbers are even more sobering — an estimated 3.3 trillion pounds of CO2 emissions are attributed to vampire energy loss and $250 billion in energy costs.

Thankfully, policy makers are beginning to address this problem. On January 1, 2006, a California Energy Commission regulation went into effect limiting standby power-consumption of consumer-electronic devices, including DVD players and stereos. Under this rule, TV's and DVD player that consume more than three watts in standby mode cannot be lawfully sold in California, power adapters are limited to 0.50 watts and stereos without permanent display clocks are limited to 2 watts, while those with clocks are limited to 4 watts. A more expansive California State Senate bill (S.1970, dubbed the “Vampire Slayer Act of 2007”) aimed at curbing standby power losses failed to pass. The U.S. Department of Energy, however, is using the Energy Star program to certify more and more electronic devices that cut down on standby power consumption.

A slightly different approach has been taken in Korea where all products with standby power losses greater than 1 watt must carry a yellow “warning” sticker. Koreans are reportedly saving over $45 million a year already with smarter product choices. At the farthest end of the spectrum, Europe’s Energy Using Products Directive (EUP) will require all energy using products placed on the market after January 2010 to be energy efficient and ecologically designed.

What can you do to cut down on energy waste, on your energy bills and help fight global warming at the same time?

1. Unplug your electronic devices when you’re not using them — particularly if they’re not in use. C’mon, how often are you using that old VCR?
2. Use a power strip. Plug multiple devices into a strip and then turn the strip off when you leave the house.
3. Better yet, buy a so-called “Smart Strip” that monitors your devices and turns off peripherals when the principal piece of equipment is turned off, e.g. the printer when the PC is powered down. Many brands of these strips are available for around $30U.S.
4. In the U.S. buy only Energy Star qualified new devices to assure the highest efficiency products are used in your household. When you comparison shop, add energy consumption to price, looks and other ‘must haves’.
5. On the education and empowerment front, consider metering your home energy usage to find out where the waste is in your household. Products like “Kill A Watt” or “Watts Up” will tell you just how efficient or inefficient your electronics are.

A chart from Good Magazine offers some additional approximations of how much energy is consumed by typical electronic devices.

Happy vampire hunting and happy Halloween!