Liberal Talk Radio

Frank’s post jogged my short-term memory — specifically this article published just yesterday in the wake of New York City’s recent power failures about appliances that slowly sap juice even when they’re not on:

Energy experts are increasingly concerned about devices that draw power even when they are turned off or are idling in “sleep” or “standby” mode. This phenomenon — the use of power by equipment in “low power modes” — may account for as much as 10 percent of residential energy consumption, according to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a federal research institution operated by the University of California.

“It’s obvious, when your microwave oven has a clock, that it uses some energy to run that clock,” said Amory B. Lovins, chief executive of the Rocky Mountain Institute, a nonprofit energy policy organization in Snowmass, Colo. “It’s less obvious that when you think your TV is turned off, it’s actually doing things like remembering the last channel you turned it to and the last volume setting. It’s running at lower power so it can turn on a few seconds faster.”

In the lingo of energy experts, devices that draw power even when turned off or idling are called “vampire loads,” because they suck energy constantly. There are also “wall warts,” devices like cellphones, digital music players and personal digital assistants that require a small charger or adapter; many of those adapters deliver only half of the power they draw in, with the rest wasted. Then there are devices that are left on continuously, like DSL or cable modems and even computers.

Government scrutiny of “standby power” is increasing. In 2001, President Bush signed an executive order directing federal agencies to choose devices with lower standby power consumption when they buy commercially available products. The Energy Policy Act enacted last year authorizes the development of federal standards for standby power.