What is the cost of "vampire energy"?

(Credit: GOOD Magazine)

I've been curious recently about how much electricity all our devices that stay plugged in all the time and in some sort of standby mode consume, even when we are not actually using them. And what does that translate into in terms of real money?

Coincidentally, GOOD Magazine has created this handy chart that graphically depicts the impact.

The real surprise on it is plasma TVs--who knew they were sucking so much energy when "off"? And that game console of yours? It's costing you $25 a year just sitting there, even when you're not using it. Have more than one console? Well, do the math...

The chart does not include all the wall-warts for cell phones, laptops, cameras, and the like that tend to stay plugged into the wall (and consuming some amount of electricity) even when not actually charging their devices. By some estimates these are responsible for 4 percent of all U.S. electricity consumption, equivalent to almost 100 million tons of oil. Hmm, no wonder the U.S. is 5 percent of the world's population but consumes 23 percent of its energy...

[jds3266]

What about turning a power cord off? Will this stop drawing power?

[suyts]

You should have asked your electric company. A plasma TV uses as much as a refridgerator. Computers, yeh, they constantly suck power but not much. The best thing one can do regarding computers (one doesn't want to constantly plug and unplug your computer) is to turn off the monitor. It doesn't hurt the monitor and eliminates the need for a screen saver that takes resources from your computer and saves significant electricity all at the same time.

[andrewrennie]

The main problem with this article is the fact that you have failed to consider what impact constantly fully powering off and on the appliances has! Every time that you completely power down and then power up the tv, for example, you are wearing out the components more quickly than if you leave it on standby mode. Thus, the tv will need replaced sooner. Therefore costing you more money than if you had left it on standby mode. Also the environmental cost of manufacturing the television is far greater than the environmental cost of leaving it on standby mode.

So in summary, every time you think you are doing the planet a favour by not using standby mode, you are in fact wearing out the components and thus not doing the planet so much of a favour after all!

[rcrusoe]

I agree with andrewrennie. $34/year to leave my computer on 24/7? That's a bargain compared to the wear & tear caused by multiple boots/day. My old G5 hasn't been turned off in over 4 years and is still running like a charm.

Some other devices like my series 1 Tivo have been spinning more than twice that long. For a lot of devices leaving them on is much better for their health.

As far as I'm concerned, if I can't afford to leave them running and available, I can't afford to own them.

[globehopper22]

Learning about wasted power is great, once you see a problem then you can take steps towards fixing it. Whether you wish to save money or not is each person's perrogative. When I consider that I am wasting money that could be put to better use, I am all ears to new ideas. When I consider that wars are being fought over energy resources, and the impact it causes such as global warming... again I am all ears.

If you do not want to plug and unplug your electronics please consider googling the Smart Strip a surge protector that automatically turns off and on your appliances for you... all you do is turn on your TV and like magic your DVD player, VCR player and anything else that you plug into the strip will turn on aswell. This makes being energy -conscious easy.

http://bitsltd.net/ConsumerProducts/index.htm