Too plugged in

The economic boom in our consumer-oriented society, the growth of new technologies and the changing workforce (i.e., more people working from home) have dramatically increased the number of products that require power in the average home. Most of today’s homes sport multiple computers, printers, faxes, televisions, VCRs, CD players and hair dryers.

Computer equipment is the fastest growing electric load in the world. In fact, energy use by computers has doubled since 2000.

Unfortunately, much of the energy for computers is wasted because they are often kept on while not in use. The Energy Star label on products designate the products as being in the upper 25 percent of energy efficiency in their class as well as products with low standby power. You can get additional information from the yellow Energy Guide label to compare every mode in a category, its capacity and estimated yearly energy cost.

Furthermore, most idle appliances – TVs, DVD players, cable boxes, CD players, cassette decks, cordless phones, burglar alarms, microwaves – continue to consume energy when switched off. This energy keeps display clocks lit and memory chips and remote controls working. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory calculates that these energy leaks account for 5 percent of total domestic energy consumption, cost more than $3 billion annually and spew 18 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere.

Idle TVs and DVD players alone cost U.S. consumers more than $1 billion a year or some $30 per household. Emissions from power plants supplying that electricity are equal to the pollution caused by 2 million cars. New technology in TVs and DVD players bearing the Energy Star label will reduce wasted energy by up to 75 percent. To save up to $70 annually in electricity bills and improve product longevity, activate your Energy Star “sleep” feature on home office equipment so that it automatically powers down when not in use. To save even more, turn off your computer during long periods of non-use.

The fact is every kilowatt-hour of electricity you avoid using saves more than one and a half pounds of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere. If over the next 15 years, Americans bought only Energy Star products, we would shrink our energy bills by more than $100 billion and eliminate as much greenhouse gas pollution as is produced by 17 million cars for each of those 15 years.

(Courtesy of the 86th Civil Engineer Squadron)