Time For Our Gadgets To Go On Diet

Like many individuals, it's time for the technology industry to go on a diet. But rather than cutting back on calories, it needs to start conserving kilowatts.

The gadgets in our homes and offices collectively consume an enormous amount of power. Home electronics accounted for 82 billion kilowatt-hours of U.S. household electricity in 2001, according to the federal Department of Energy. That's roughly the equivalent of 94 million tons of carbon dioxide.

As individuals, we can do things to help, but the real solution requires companies to rethink the type of products that are produced and the way they're designed.

Let's start with the power bricks that come with nearly every tech item we buy, from cell phones to printers to laptop PCs. Most of them use energy even if the device isn't being used. If you ever touch a power brick and notice that it's warm or hot, that's proof of electricity being turned into unnecessary heat.

A couple of years ago, during his Consumer Electronics Show keynote, Google co-founder Larry Page made a sensible suggestion; "Why not instead standardize the power and have a basic (adapter device) so you can say, 'I want 12 volts, 2 amps, give it to me.' Then you can buy a really nice power supply that's really efficient, really small."

He recommended that these devices be unbundled from the hardware they support so that there could be a competitive marketplace for them.

While we're at it, perhaps something can be done about standby power. According to the Department of Energy, "In the average home, 75 percent of the electricity used to power home electronics is consumed while the products are turned off." Our homes are loaded with these devices, from TV sets to microwave ovens to DVD players.

Digital video recorders from TiVo, Dish Network, Comcast and other companies are particularly guilty.

(CBS/P3International.com)

I used a Kill-a-Watt Electric Usage Monitor (seen at left; available online for about $20) to measure the power consumption of some of my gadgets.

My Dish Network DVR consumes 47 watts 24 hours a day, whether or not I'm watching or recording a program. The TiVo series 2, at 40 watts, isn't much better.

In addition to all the solid state electronics, these devices have mechanical hard disks that are spinning in standby mode so that they're always ready to record a show. It seems they could be smart enough to remain in a low power state until a program is about to start and spin up the drive as needed.

Large-screen TVs can also be major energy hogs. Generally, LCD sets are more efficient than plasma sets at the same size. But regardless of the technology, the larger the set, the more the power draw. OLED screens, which are just coming on the market, should be considerably more efficient. But it will be several years before we'll see this technology in large screen sets.

Personal computers can waste enormous amounts of energy, especially if they're running 24 hours a day. In theory, all Windows PCs and Macs are supposed to go into a power saving mode after a specified period, but that isn't always the case.

Windows PCs are notorious for either not going to sleep or sleeping so soundly that they can't be woken up except by powering them off completely and then powering them back on again, which defeats the entire purpose of standby mode.

This has been true with several versions of Windows and continues to be true with Vista. Microsoft claims that Vista is more energy efficient but you'd never know that by watching how my machine behaves when it's supposed to go into sleep mode. It worked OK when it was new but after I added some software and peripherals it started to get a bit flaky.

It would be nice to see Microsoft and its PC-maker partners make this problem go away by the end of 2008.

---

A syndicated technology columnist for over two decades, Larry Magid serves as on air Technology Analyst for CBS Radio News. His technology reports can be heard several times a week on the CBS Radio Network. Magid is the author of several books including "The Little PC Book."

[michellem99-2009]

Yer go in to yer display properties hit sceen saver words click it.Yer see power click power, That is where yer set yer sceen /hard drive to turn off after what yer set as and yer can set them so they shut off and that works. Most never set them to turn off but yer should,then they wonder why their hard drive fails.When yer hit power hit the tabs/words and set to yer needs. See if that helps this is on computer.

[beehive21-2009]

turn em off when not in use.

[neenga]

didnt_inhale: Also, one question mark will suffice. Always.

[neenga]

didnt_inhale: You do not understand much. Nor have you kept yourself properly informed.

[puzzler125]

Don''t you people understand that just because we have a snowstorm or two it doesn''t mean global warming doesn''t exist.

[Hominatrix53]

I''ve got both of my LCD tv''s on power strips. I turn them completely off when I''m not using them.

[ibzjem]

I turn off my PC at night. I turn if off if I''m not going to use in within 8 hours (ie while I sleep) then it stays off all day while I''m at work. I turn it on only when I''m home and awake. My electric bill is $20/month if i don''t run the A/C.

The other benefit of keeping it off when not in use is hackers can''t get to it.

[pinewalker-2009]

If any of you on the east coast would pay attention to science research, you''d find that the atlantic is cooling, the gulf stream is slowing, and we''re getting colder because of it. A classic result of global warming. Duh!!

[farmerbb]

I agree. Windows (I have XP Pro) is really bad at RELIABLY going into power saving mode. Even when I notice it has not been doing this, I check the settings, and find it is still set to operate. It just doesn''t do it any more. When I get Linux to install completely on my test notebook, I will happily switch. I have paid the Microsoft tax for poor quality products & services, for long enough.