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

Mayor Bloomberg has outlined some new additions to his PlaNYC, which aims to cut New York City's emissions by 30 percent by 2030.  One of the major new projects will be the building of solar power plants on old landfill sites.

New York City has about 3,000 acres of shuttered landfills and through this plan 250 of those will be outfitted with solar power.  Once those plants come online, they'll have a capacity of 50 MW, enough to power 50,000 homes.

The revised PlaNYC also includes a gradual cessation of the use of #4 and #6 heating oils.  The dirty oils produce more soot than all of the cars and trucks in the city combined.  The city will help building owners and neighborhoods transition to cleaner heating, with #6 being phased out by 2015 and #4 by 2030.

Another big goal of the plan is to create the New York City Energy Efficiency Corp with $37 million of federal stimulus money.  The corporation's main purpose will be provide financing to property owners for renewable energy installations and efficiency improvements.

via Crain's and Gothamist

Image via nycmayorsoffice