The New York Times has a very poignant article highlighting the importance of not just shutting down your electronics, but actually unplugging them. Just about all of your favorite pieces of hardware continue sucking down copious amounts of energy even when you aren’t using them – yes, even when they’re on low-energy modes.
The NYT writes:
Indeed, the Department of Energy estimates that in the average home, 40 percent of all electricity used to power home electronics is consumed while the products are turned off. Add that all up, and it equals the annual output of 17 power plants, the government says. In an effort to address that, a consortium of Intel, Google, PC makers and other technology companies this week announced their intent to increase the PC’s overall energy efficiency to 90 percent.
Products that idle in what the industry calls low-power mode, or lopomo, consumed about 10 percent of total electricity in California homes, according to a 2002 study prepared for the California Energy Commission by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. A few of those devices, even those with Energy Star ratings that signal that they are less wasteful, still use a lot of power. “Some of the larger big-screen TVs consume as much energy each year as a new refrigerator,” according to Noah Horowitz, a scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
New York Times: Putting Energy Hogs in the Home on a Strict Low-Power Diet
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