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A recent study by the National Resources Defense Council finds that cable and digital recording devices are now "the single largest electricity drain in many American homes." The study found that "In 2010, set-top boxes in the United States consumed approximately 27 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, which is equivalent to the annual output of nine average (500 MW) coal-fired power plants."
This power consumption translates to roughly $3 billion in annual electricity costs paid by consumers, as well as being responsible for the release of 16 million metric tons of CO2 emissions each year. Furthermore, according to the NRDC report, an average HD set-top cable box and HD-DVR uses more energy (446 kWh/year) than an average 21 cubic foot Energy Star refrigerator (415 kWh/year).
Even worse than the "standby drain" of electricity used by equipment in a supposedly "off" position, many of these television set-top boxes - which include cable and satellite equipment, digital video recorders (DVR), and the like - are on 24 hours a day. Power strips can be useful for turning off these vampire loads, but consumers are reluctant to use those when they want their DVRs to be able to record programs.
NRDC points out that these devices could be designed to be more energy efficient, but that the service companies who provide these to consumers feel little incentive to do so, since it is the end users who pay for that power use.
image: CC-BY 2.0 by Scott Thomson
via: New York Times
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written by Shane, June 29, 2011
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written by Voltair, June 29, 2011
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written by WholeBuffalo, June 29, 2011
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written by strangie, June 30, 2011
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written by Katherine McCladdie, June 30, 2011
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written by ben bethel, July 06, 2011
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written by John Cossham, July 06, 2011
When we've finished watching, it is turned off at the wall.
How difficult is that? Even our children can do it!!!! Our set top box and telly ONLY uses power when it's being used. All our electric devices, apart from the phone cradle thing, get turned off AT THE WALL when not in use.
C'mon power wasters, turn off at the wall. It's not rocket science!
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Perhaps, but I think it's more that there really isn't a consumer market for cable boxes. Most customers don't really think of these boxes as devices they want to buy; it's just something the cable companies provide. Because of that, the cable companies provide that and want the cheapest boxes they can buy. If they could separate the two and create a real consumer market, the market could be driven towards more energy efficient boxes.