Power (saving) Strip
A local news station recently did a piece on how much power new TVs use. I don’t know if you’ve heard this one or not, but apparently inefficient plasma TVs can consume more power when turned off, then a refrigerator running all day. While I can believe that… I think that it is the exception. New TVs are much more energy efficient than their early iterations, and Plasma TVs require significantly more power than other HDTVs like LCD or projection.
The part that seems incredulous is that they pull any power when they are turned off. But really a lot of electronics now don’t really turn off. You have probably seen a DVD player or something that has a “Standby” light when you press the power button. At the very least, enough circuitry is kept active so that the remote can turn the TV back on . As devices become more complex, more stays active even when the device is not being used.*
I recently had an idea that would make it simple to save that extra juice when you know you won’t be needing it. Most of us have a power strip connected to all of our gadgets in the entertainment center. If you place the power strip so it is easily accessible, then you can just flip the switch on the power strip and turn all of your gadgets “off off”. Maybe every night when you head off to bed, or at least when you will be gone for a few days, you can pull all the power, without having to literally pull the plugs. And when you get back, its a simple switch to get everything back up and running.
In some cases, manufacturers are making some efforts to improve the situation. For example I have a Magnavox TV that has two “off” modes. If you turn the TV off with a remote, the power button stays lit, and the remote can turn it back on. If you get up and press the button, there is no LED at all, and the remote can’t turn the TV back on. I have to drag my lazy bucket to the TV and physically press the power button. Now there’s a waste of energy
* for example newer AV sources like cable boxes, DVD players and recievers send information back and forth between the displays so that the signal doesn’t need to be reconfigured each time you switch inputs. Xbox 360s keep an active 2.4 GHz signal up to detect controller iniatated power-ups. DVRs and VCRs can schedule recordings when the box is “off”