Federal committee gets in standby power mode
Last Updated: Monday, June 18, 2007 | 10:45 AM CT
CBC News
They sit in your home, red lights flashing, awaiting your command. Your electrical appliances may be consuming more power than you think — even when not in use, says a federal agency examining the issue.
Many televisions, cellphone chargers, computers, VCRs and DVD players have a standby mode that uses electricity, even when the item itself is not in use.
A national committee on standby power that was set up by the Office of Energy Efficiency will hold its first official meeting by conference call on Tuesday.
"For example, your television could be off, but it's always at the ready to be turned on with a converter," says Anne Wilkins, spokeswoman for the office. "It's using power in standby to be ready to be turned on."
While standby mode might only use a few watts of electricity, it all adds up, Wilkins says.
"It really doesn't have an impact when you look at one product, but the impact is when you look at all the products in your home — 16, 17, 18 products … could be using energy in standby," she said.
"When you compound it for the number of hours that they're on in a day and then multiply that by 365 [days in a year], that number can get quite big."
The use of standby power has been identified as an emerging issue by the Group of Eight, the world's wealthiest nations.
Japan, Australia and California have started to regulate the amount of power a device can use in standby mode, Wilkins said.
Canada may follow suit, starting with consumer electronics in 2012, she added.
