Several years ago, I replaced all my home’s commonly used incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents (CFL.) I saw a noticeable decrease in my electric use and bills.
A few months ago, I got Verizon’s Fiber Optic Service, FIOS, for my cable TV and high speed Internet service. It’s remarkably fast, but that comes with a hidden cost, substantial power consumption.
Shortly after the FIOS installation, I noticed that my new cable TV box and Internet modem were noticeably warm, indicating significant power use. I feared my CFL power savings were going up in heat.
I checked the Verizon boxes’ consumption with a borrowed power meter, Kill A Watt. (Available online, Google it.)
My fears were exaggerated, but not unfounded. Together, the Verizon boxes use 40 watts. Not much, but they are usually on 24/7. This wipes out about 1/3 of my CFL savings. The boxes cost about $52/year to run, or about 830 lbs of CO2/year.
Put another way, running them equals driving a 19mpg car 830 miles. Individually, this is not great, but multiplied by several hundred thousand FIOS customers, it certainly adds to global warming.
I now turn each off when not in use. Because they don’t have power switches, I control them with a switched power strip. It’s a minor pain since the cable box takes 80 seconds to boot up.
While I had the meter, I measured several other devices power consumption. I found that most home devices use 6-10 watts while turned off. In my area, Maryland’s DC suburbs, 1 watt/year costs $1.31, and produces 21 lbs of CO2/year from coal. This is equivalent to driving that 19 mpg car 21 miles.
These number may seem small, but they become large when multiplied by millions of households. This is the inverse of small individual savings from efficient lighting becoming huge when spread all over the country.
I’ve posted a spreadsheet showing these calculations and the power consumption of various devices. You can enter your local electric rates to see what it costs you.
Flat Screen TVs Power Use
These FIOS boxes are not alone in bringing new costs along with a new service. Take flat screen TVs which are making mass inroads into homes. These TVs use 200 to 600 watts while on, compared to 100 watts for older CRT TVs. Many have an EPA Energy Star rating, but the ratings for electronic devices only applies to power consumption while they are 'off' (actually on standby).
As it is, TVs have high duty cycles. Many homes use one or more TVs as background noise, even when no one is watching.
High power consumption flat screens are also being used in many public and commercial venues. For example, stores commonly use flat-screens for advertising on walls. I even saw one used as a school bulletin board. It’s on during the weekend.
The Wall Street Journal, December 13, 2007; Page D1, had an article the subject, That Giant Sucking Sound May Be Your New TV .
What can we do on an individual level?
* Be aware of power consumption when buying electronics.
* Turn off items, even always-on items, when not in use.
* Make sure your computers and monitors are set to go to sleep
What can we do on an activist level?
* Write to Verizon and demand that they lower their boxes’ power consumption.
* Insist EPA mandate labeling of devices’ power consumption, as it does for refrigerators.
* Regulate power consumption of always-on items.
* Make the public aware of the dollar and environmental costs of electronics.
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