peakoil.com -> forbes.com :

If someone asked you to burn 10% of your cash, it’s doubtful you’d comply. But this happens every month with your energy bill. The culprit: the many electronic devices in your home that are always on, even when you think they’re off. “Standby power can be 10% to 15% of the energy load of a state,” says Andrew Fanara, team leader for product specification development at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “In California they went to homes where everything was shut off, and even then they consumed 100 to 105 watts of standby power at all times.”

Digital video recorders and cable/satellite converter boxes are among the most profligate. These devices, known as “set-top boxes,” draw a constant 30 or more watts of power. Computers are also a huge standby drain. Traditional computers average 35.5 watts in standby, while laptops average 16.5 watts. Other large standby drainers include ink jet printers, which can use from three to 20 watts, and mini-stereos, which can consume from one to 25 watts.

- Update : I have finally turned off the old VCR. I figure I don’t need another clock display since there is a battery-powered clock on the wall, and all my computers auto-sync themselves to atomic clocks. I have also turned off the speakers for the PC’s. The *second*, not-really-necessary, analog, non-DECT, non-encrypted cordless phone may be turned off permanently – soon.

Existing measures include setting up the wireless network in a cascaded subnet topology, such that while the original (and still working after 5-6 years) wired Linksys BEF-SR41 router remains on, the Linksys WRT-54GL wireless router and the third (!) PC in the bedroom are turned on only when needed. All battery chargers are also turned on only when needed.

One of the measures with the greatest potential impact could be the replacement of the electric hot air-pot with a Tiger vacuum flask. The old air-pot was demonstrably guzzling electricity since I have noted that the outside surface felt hot to the touch. It was continuously heating up water for the occasional use (!). Quite a waste actually.

…. and then there’s the matter of the *second* fridge …

Well, I’d suppose that my household guzzles energy, to the tune of 650-700 KWh per month (!). Way above the national average consumption for my housing type (supposedly 474 KWh for a HDB 5-room flat as indicated on the power bill). On the other hand, we have not turned on the aircon to sleep through the night for years, we have cancelled our cable TV subscription (so no more set-top box!) many years ago, and we have replaced the old, spoilt Ariston 3.0KW dryer with a more efficient Fisher Paykel 1.8KW model <- still need that, because, with 3 adults and 2 kids in the house, the existing clothes line capacity is regularly exceeded.

Let’s see what transpires in the next few billing cycles.

See also :

1. Electricity tariff to go up 2.3%
2. TV standby buttons will be outlawed

- via lowem.log