Are Electronic Vampires Stealing Your Nonprofit's Energy?

Huddler's Green Home is an online wiki for passionate, eco-friendly consumers to come together, learn from one another, and share their knowledge with each other and the world. The site is intended to be for anyone interested to share practical tips on greening our lives including maximize the fuel efficiency of our cars, how to get thru a solar energy installation, and how to deal with electronics vampires like VCRs, TVs, cell phone chargers, ipod chargers, microwave ovens, etc. One of their latest topics is the issue of energy vampires. What are vampires and how can your nonprofit fight them? Check out their top 10 ways for you to fight the vampires.

Here's a little background on Electronics Vampires:

Most people think that when you turn something off, it actually turns off. Most people assume that it stops drawing power. Unfortunately, that's not true in the case of most electric devices. Most of them just hover in standby mode, waiting for you to 'turn on' the power again.

A 1999 study in New Zealand conducted by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority indicated that 40% of microwave ovens used more electricity to power the clock and the keypad over the course of the year than actually heating food. Big screen TV's and their cable boxes or satellite dishes draw up to 30 watts when off. A computer left turned on can potentially draw as much current as a refrigerator.

Studies conducted by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimate that standby power consumption in the US accounts for 5% of all residential power consumption. That means Americans spend more than $3.5 billion annually on wasted power. It also means that our standby power is responsible for 27 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that globally standby power is responsible for 1% of carbon dioxide emissions worldwide

Some actions on the manufacturer and policy side:

• Energy Star now takes standby power into consideration when evaluating products.
• In 1999, the IEA launched the One Watt Initiative, an international action plan to reduce standby power in all appliances to one watt by 2010. The plan would reduce CO2 emissions by 50 million tons if OECD countries participated (that's the equivalent of taking 18 million cars off the road). In 2000, Australia endorsed the One Watt Initiative.
• In 2001, President Bush signed Executive Order 13221 requiring the federal government to purchase electronics with one watt or lower of standby draw.
• On January 1, 2006, a California Energy Commission regulation went into effect limiting standby power-consumption of consumer-electronic devices, including DVD players and stereos. Under this legislation, TV's and DVD player that consume more than three watts in standby mode are illegal, power adapters are limited to 0.75 watts (which will fall to 0.5 watts in January 2008), and as of 2007, stereos without permanent display clocks are limited to 2 watts, while those with clocks are limited to 4 watts. Additonal Resources:
• See the GOOD vampire image in its original context at GOOD Magazine.
• Check out "How to Side Step a Two-Pronged Vampire" from the New York Times for information on transformers and two men working around them.

For more information, tips and helpful products, check out "Smart Power Strips: the Garlic of Vampire Electronics" via Cleantechnica.