The Slate Green Challenge: Week 5 - Electricity
by Brittany Jacobs, Seattle on 11.20.06
Nowadays, it’s hard to live without your iPod, laptop, alarm clock, cell phone, television, and all those other modern conveniences that make life a little easier (and more fun). But, did you know that leaving these devices plugged in while not in use constantly draws at least 1 kw of energy per gadget? If you are like the rest of us (guilty!), you could be using up to ten appliances at any given time. Try unplugging your gadgets or using a power strip that can be shut off completely, which can save up to 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per two-person household annually, as well as hundreds of dollars off your energy bills.
To date, almost 27,000 people have joined us on The Slate Green Challenge. That equates to a pledge of 46 million pounds of collective CO2 reduction! There are four weeks remaining in the challenge and you can still join us. It all starts with a carbon footprint analysis and follows with information on such topics as food, transportation and this week’s topic -- electricity. Be one of the first 500 to complete the challenge and win a free t-shirt from our friends and sponsors at I’m Organic. ::Slate Green Challenge Welcome ::Slate Green Challenge Week 5: Electricity
Well, did you know that leaving these devices plugged in while not in use constantly draws about 1 kWh of energy?
First of all, power that is being drawn is stated as "watt" or "kilowatt", not appened with "-hour". That said, if these phantom loads were actually drawing a combined full kilowatt, that would mean they'd account for for 731 kWh/mo, which is completely off-base.
I've suggested this before, but it would be very helpful if these statistical claims that are being made in this series actually linked to the source of the claims. That way, a lot of confusion could be avoided.
But to get back to that "1 kWh" claim, taking the following to be true: "Try unplugging all of your gadgets and save up to 1,000 lbs in annual carbon dioxide emissions, as well as hundreds of dollars in energy bills."
that would mean that the average phantom load is closer to 100 watts (actually about 56 watts), not 1,000 watts - which still seems high (at least in my own experience), but is entirely possible.
In case you doubt my estimates, the DOE claims "the average home uses about 450 kWh per year of its total energy consumption to power phantom loads, or about $28 per year".
http://www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/info/documents/pdfs/26468.pdf
An average year has 365.25 days, which is 8,766 hours.
450 kWh = 450,000 Wh
450,000 Wh/8,766 hours =
51.3 watts (cf. my estimate of 56 watts)
1 kW is nearly 20 times that amount, and likewise the maximum potential cost savings are off by a similar factor.
An RMI report from 2002 puts the number at 50 watts as well: "The average [US] home uses 50 continuous watts to power... 'phantom' loads. This adds up to 438 kWh/yr, or about 5 percent of a typical household electric consumption."
http://www.rmi.org/images/other/Climate/C02-12a_CoolCitizens.pdf
When you run the numbers, the CO2 footprint from phantom loads (for the average grid mix) comes to 662 pounds per year.
Strange - I posted a comment a couple days ago showing that both the Department of Energy and the Rocky Mountain Institute both estimate average phantom loads at 50 watts, very close to the estimate I gave.
All I see now is that the original post has changed "kwh" to "kw", but now it claims "leaving these devices plugged in while not in use constantly draws at least 1 kw of energy per gadget". OK, it was wrong before, now it's REALLY wrong. A constant draw of 1 kw is like leaving a toaster oven or 10 100-watt bulbs on around the clock.
Footnote #113 of this RMI paper puts some details to the numbers:
http://www.rmi.org/images/other/Climate/C02-12a_CoolCitizens.pdf
Because you folks have the numbers off by many factors, the notion that one can save "hundreds of dollars" by eliminating phantom loads (which isn't even possible, really) is off by many factors as well.
A combined phantom load of 50 watts at the average residential electricity rate in the US (10.94 cents per kWh) will cost $48/yr, or $4/month.