How on Earth do you manage that, not once, but several times? I’ve live here my entire 42 years and never ONCE shocked myself while plugging things in. The stuff I work with at my job would curl your hair with all the exposed 480 V connections, but I only manage to get shocked there a couple times a month. But, just plugging something in? I don’t see how that’s even possible; you’d actually have to be touching the prongs, and no one does that. Do they?
Germany too. And I agree that flipping a switch is much easier than inserting and removing a plug.
Aha, that’s probably because the TV is using power even when it’s off and unplugged, by way of a little battery. So you save a tiny bit of power by unplugging the TV, but now you have to use a tiny bit more power when the TV is on to charge that little battery. To be completely fair, this could be implemented using some kind of nonvolatile memory like flash, but I’d put money on it being a battery in most TV’s.
In most TVs it’s not even a battery, it’s a capacitor. Depending on how big it is, it’ll give you between several minutes and a couple hours.
Actually most TVs use EEprom, and have since the '80s, after Philips invented the I2C bus, specifically for this purpose: I2C Bus Technical Overview and FAQ - EmSA
To this question directly: yes, it could be. Anything that has low voltage circuitry inside probably has a transformer inside that is always using (losing) some power.
Having said that, I’m far from convinced that the “unplug everything” initiative is actually a good idea, in terms of net energy savings. People have a finite capacity for hassle, especially if the benefit of the hassle is not immediately tangible. Someone who decides “I’m going to reduce my standby power as much as possible” will make a habit of unplugging/plugging-in things all the time, but probably not anything with a clock and probably also some things that don’t matter. Deep in their heart they’ll think, “Hey, I’m doing my part,” which is the goal (sort of), but having them reach that goal before making a significant impact is bad.
The total power sucked down by standy modes is just not that big. What if instead the campaign was: “Okay, you get to keep everything plugged in. whew. But! Only if you install a programmable thermostat, or change your driving habits, or weatherize your house, or don’t leave the porch light on all the time (perhaps a motion detector), or …” This campaign would save more energy (I posit).
The argument that “every little bit adds up” falls apart if most people stop adding bits after so many.
But this is a social engineering question, one that I doubt good data exist for. My feeling, though, is that we’d do better not targetting things with such low (reward)/(hassle) ratios. The standy power issue should be attacked on the manufacturing side, not the user side.
Phantom power is a big issue, but most people could offset all their phantom power usage by replacing a single frequently-used (say, dusk-to-dawn) incandescent lamp with a compact fluorescent.
Still, I bet our house uses something like 300+ Watts of phantom power (of course, we keep the wireless router on, and UPSs, etc.)
I see no mention of EEPROM in that article. You’re probably confusing it with the nonvolatile EPROM memory that’s used to store calibration and alignment settings, but this memory isn’t used to store channel settings and labels. Neither is flash memory, which has a limited number of read/write cycles and is much more expensive than DRAM with a cap. My current set, an 8-year-old Samsung, will forget all its channel settings, labels and setup data if I leave it unplugged for more than an hour or so. Searching around on Google reveals a number of other brands which do the same thing. Some sets may use nonvolatile EEPROM, but it ain’t “most” by any stretch.
I have switches for at least one outlet in each room here in Oakland, CA, USA
Carelessness, mostly. It’s surprisingly easy if you’re reaching over the back of a couch or something, especially if you can’t see what you’re doing - if you pull the plug out halfway and then reach down for a better grip, it’s easy to touch the prongs accidentally.
I used to do maintenance for a motel (family business) when I was in my early teens, and I managed it at least six or seven times while unplugging TVs.
That’s probably because the technology is so ancient.
These days, it’s all integrated on a single chip, like the Philips STV2246:
http://www.st.com/stonline/products/literature/ds/9771/stv2238.htm
Which is I2C programmable, and would be controlled by a microcontroller with Flash memory, like the C8051F330.
Still, here is a quote from Renesas eeprom data sheet:
Key Applications:
TV/VTR/remote control: channel, mode setting
and from Rohm: Fine-tuning/channel/mode/resume memory settings in TVs, VCRs, DVD players, CD players, and other AV equipment.
and here’s a manual from an LCD TV which mentions it specifically: http://www.xinglong-china.com/pdf/CT-LS72SE.pdf
I’ve never seen a TV with capacitor memory backup.
I have a friend who is fanatic about doing this. He unplugs everything he can. When I made some of the same arguments that others have made here he put it to me this way:
Even if it only saves me one dollar a month it’s one dollar I’m not sending off to some rich bastard over at the power company.
When he put it to me that way I adopted the same lifestyle, but to a lesser extent. I leave a few things plugged in all the time. Everything that is hooked up to any kind of AC adapter is on a surge protector that is turned off when not in use. The same is true for my computer. My early 80’s era television is only plugged in when I’m watching it.
Also I’ve installed a compact fluorescent light bulb in the lamp I use 90% of the time. When it comes time to replace bulbs in other parts of my apartment they will get the same treatment. The compact fluorescent is probably saving more than making sure nearly everything is unplugged when not in use, but it has also made me acutely aware of everything electrical I use from day to day.
I have noticed a definite savings on my electricity bill. It went from about $50.00/month to about $30.00. I accomplished that simply by being aware of my electrical usage and putting forth an effort not to waste a drop.
Oh, those bastards’ll figure out a way to get it out of you anyway.
Here in Minneapolis, the electric monopoly is asking for a rate increase, because people have done so much to conserve energy by switching to fluorescent bulbs, etc. that the electric company is not making enough money, they think.
And people have done so well at conserving water use that the water company has increased the ‘minimum base’ charge, so you pay that even if you use less water than that. Something like 15-20% now get charged this minimum rate, and thus overpay for their water.
So there doesn’t seem much financial point to trying to reduce wasteful use, when you get charged for it anyway!
In South Africa the law (well, the national building standards) require a switch on every wall outlet. We use type M plugs. (Oddly enough, the picture at that link shows no switch on the outlet. It must be from somewhere else, or some kind of special-purpose application.)
I remember seeing a British PSA (that’s public service announcement, if you don’t call them that in your hoe country) that advised people to unplug EVERYTHING before they go to bed, lest they catch on fire: television, radio, lights, and so on.
Quoth Pasta:
While we’re on the topic of porch lights, most people use a 60 or 100 watt bulb for their porch light, but a local anti-light-pollution activist has demonstrated that even if you’re using an incandescent, 10 watts is actually plenty: It’s enough to act as a signal to say “someone’s home”, if you’re expecting guests or the like, and it’s enough to clearly see the steps and porch furniture, so you don’t trip over anything. And really, what more do you need from a porch light?
I have switched most of my lights to compact fluorescent, most of the basement lights, and the attic are still incandescent. The biggest savings to me is really that I can go more than a month without changing a light bulb. Energy savings to me is probably small due to the fact I am about the only person who reliably turns a light off when I leave a room. Attempting to catch all the standby power would frustrate and stress me to no end. I have said more than once, all these little lights are a nuisance and should be eliminated by the manufacturer. Why does my NIC card in the computer have one? It is inside and not easily visible when the lights are on. It blinks incessantly all night though, I can see it clearly at night when everything is off through the ventilation holes. Tv has a light on the front to tell you it is off. DUH. IIRC my furnace has a control panel, inside, with 5 or 6 little leds. In a smaller environment, with less people to cross your path, it may be a good idea. I have enough on my hands just turning off all the things my wife and kids leave on all the time.
The indicator lights are an insignificant power drain - it’s the circuitry that whose status they are indicating that consumes the power. A typical LED draws 2v at 10mA or .02 Watts. At ten cents per kWh, you could run an LED for 5.7 years for a dime.
They have wall plug switches here too in Ireland. Every place I’ve lived in had them. Same in the office I work in.
I’ll not speak for the whole of Germany, but here in my neck of the woods, there are no switches on the outlets, and I’m always happy to see them when I go to the UK, because they seem so quaint…
Ah, what the heck, I’ll speak for the whole of Germany: 99% of our outlets to not have separate on-off switches.
I’ve just bought a Kill-A-Watt to track my power usage, and I’ve found that at least two of my wall warts (e.g. for my cell phone charger) draw no power at all when they’re not in use. So I think there’s some hype going around about that subject.