The Insatiable Power Hunger of Home Electronics 340
An anonymous reader writes "A Wall Street Journal columnist recently got his hand on a power meter and decided to write about his findings, the resulting article being discussed here on Slashdot. That author concluded that gadgets are getting a bad rap, and are relatively insignificant power consumers in the grand scheme of things. A rebuttal has appeared, arguing that not only are modern electronics significant power consumers already, while everything else is becoming more efficient, home electronics seem to be getting worse. This echoes the Department of Energy's assertion that 'Electricity consumption for home electronics, particularly for color TVs and computer equipment, is also forecast to grow significantly over the next two decades.' Are gadgets unfairly maligned, or getting an unearned pardon?"
Trends vs Actual consumption... (Score:5, Insightful)
The article referenced talks about the trends for energy consumption. And, in that respect, the consumer electronics win hands down, since more and more people buy computers, flat-screen TVs and assorted electronic gadgets. On the other hand, the WSJ is right, since the overall energy consumption of these gadgets is still a very small fraction of the total.
One thing that I'd personally like to do soon would be to compare the electricity used by all my computers (6 and counting, including a big Sun workstation, 3 laptops, a modem/router, a wireless access point, a laser printer, etc) vs the overall electricity usage in my home. I have relatively modern equipment, and I am currently switching everything to low-power equipment.
More efficient and More Prolific (Score:5, Insightful)
Sure they might run instant on feature that takes some current drain 24x7 so they can do a warm start. Or a clock.
Chase down the Off-Grid living web sites and you'll soon find that one of the biggest problems people have when they first try to do off grid is all their appliances that drain just a little power all night long, leaving insufficient power for the morning routines.
I have three digital clocks in my kitchen, two in my entertainment center... I don't own a watch anymore because I realized that there is no place except the bathroom that I can stand in my house and not see a clock face. And I don't own any clocks!
The need for everything to have a digital clock and instant on takes up a lot more power then you think. Turn everything off and go look at your meter. it's still chugging along rather nicely. We could do much better if we dropped the clocks and dropped the instant on. Tube televisions took minutes to warm up. Solid State televisions take a few seconds to warm up. Instant On only saves me 3 seconds at most.
Re:Color TVs? Is that really necessary to specify? (Score:3, Insightful)
Oh good, all my black and white TVs and computer equipment are okay...
I know that was meant to be a snark, but...,/P>
Monochrome CRTs use remarkably little energy.
two simple things would totally fix it (Score:4, Insightful)
2) Manufacturers should be obliged to make low-voltage devices have transformers internal(and wired after the power switch), and make those really annoying power bricks you now get with everything illegal.
Apart from usually being a ridiculous single-piece design that occludes several other sockets in a power strip, they cause massive cable tangles and practical use requires that they be left permanently powered-on.
Re:supply & demand (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Inflation (Score:4, Insightful)
Gadgets smadgets (Score:3, Insightful)
Save the earth quote... (Score:3, Insightful)
We could probably save the Earth a little more if we didn't do one to two loads of dishes a day, and if we didn't wash a dozen loads of laundry a week, but hey, that's modern life with small children. These are luxuries of modern living that I'm going to clutch onto until the ocean is lapping at the door.
I wonder if his kids and grandkids will feel similarly about Dad's attitude?!
Don't get me wrong, the guy seems to be doing more than most people. My point is that we are not "entitled" to lives of such "luxuries" (his word) as we kill off species and, indeed, the entire planet.
We have a helluva lot of change to do -- either willingly or it'll be forced on us -- and most of that change needs to occur between our ears.
PC can run 24/7 with little power usen, but... (Score:2, Insightful)
After 10 minutes in sleep mode it all consumes 5W.
1. PC It runs 24/7, and consumes 43kWh or $6 a year.
2. Clothes drier runs 6 hours a week at 4kW thats 416kWh or $60 a year
3. PC when CPU doing actual work sucks 147W thats 1300kWh or $206 a year. When I discovered this, I immediately disabled the protein folding project my PC was participating in.
household low voltage bus (Score:2, Insightful)
the horribly stupid situation we've gotten ourselves into is that now we have a myriad transformers in our houses. i can think of five that are currently plugged in right now in this room. put your hand on one of these -- that heat is wasted electricity.
the thing that should be investigated, i suppose is whether one big power supply is more efficient than a bazillion little ones . . .
also, electronics required 9vdc, eg, will still need to convert the 12vdc, and newer cpu cores use 3.3vdc....
the cool thing about an installed dc bus means that a small solar power system to drive it would become quite economical -- a solar cell and a battery, and you could power a good percentage of your electronic gadgetry.
mr c
Re:Its good to see the few key things called out.. (Score:3, Insightful)
The NEC has constantly revised the electrical loads to provide more and more outlets precisely because people use more and more electrical devices over time. It's just how things go.
On an unrelated note, I've tried using CFLs in my house for about four years. I still can't find a model where the color doesn't make me want to vomit.
Re:Remotes + Sleep mode (Score:5, Insightful)
That last bit is critical. Guys, we're not wasting ANY energy, at least during the heating season. The heat put out by the wall warts and other always-on stuff, helps heat your house. If you have electric heat, it's exactly a wash. If you heat with natural gas or propane, well, this is that much less fuel you'll burn. The cost per BTU even comes out in favor of electric, sometimes. For me, the on-peak rate is 5x as high as the off-peak rate, so during nights and weekends, electric heat is cheaper than propane.
For off-peak heating, I use a 4500W water heater, piped into plastic tubing cast into the concrete slabs in my basement and kitchen. I can get a 1 degree (f) per hour temperature rise in the slabs, which doesn't sound like much but in practice is more than enough. The electric heat, in this case, saves me quite a bit in propane costs, somewhere around 20% in heating costs savings last time I calculated.
Point is, that heat isn't wasted, unless you're running an air conditioner at the same time.
Re:More efficient and More Prolific (Score:5, Insightful)
It's like a leaky faucet. Sure it's only 1/10 gallon a minute, but it adds up and doesn't benefit anyone. Why not minimize it? I know manufacturers could lower standby power use if consumers demand it.
Re:two simple things would totally fix it (Score:3, Insightful)