Welcome again to the wonderful but sometimes weird world of wireless comms, written by Joel Young, CTO of Digi InternationalIn the spirit of green, there has been a lot of talk lately about the need to unplug all those unused wall-warts (also known as those little black transformers that seem to be required for most every little electronic gadget).
Convention says these wall-warts consume some power when they are plugged in, even if there is no load. Typical items are battery chargers, etc. When we stretch our analysis a bit, we also recognize that there are many electronic gadgets that remain plugged in and consume power when they are turned off. Typical items here are your DVD player, television, etc. We like to think of these devices as "sleeping."
In an effort to understand this better, I decided to take in inventory of my own house and then look at the power consumption of all these little gadgets. I have no idea if my house is a typical house or not. My inner geek, which loves electronic things, is often conflicted with my greener side. Hence, I'll let you judge for yourself. However, I strongly suggest that before you decide to judge, you take an inventory of your own home.
In doing my analysis, I categorized the devices into three categories:
1) Naked wall-warts - these are the power supplies that are plugged into a socket with nothing really attached. They are plugged in 24×7 and are only connected to actual gadgets perhaps 10 percent of the time.
2) 24×7 wall-warts - these are the power supplies that are plugged into devices that are ON all the time. The best example of this is my WiFi access point. Hence, I only look at the total power of the device.
3) Sleeping gadgets - these are gadgets that use power even when they are turned off. I like to think of them as sleeping. Example of this is my computer on standby which consumes about 3 watts.
So the results are... (remember, before you judge - inventory your own home).
Total gadgets were 102, of which 52 fell into the naked wall-wart category, 24 are on 24×7 and 26 are sleeping.
I measure the power usage of all these devices and added them up (quite a time consuming task for which I received a lot of grief from the rest of my family).
While every little bit counts, it turns out that the naked wall-warts really only amount to 189 kWh per year. While every little bit does add up, I think I'm better off trying to reduce the 3,600 kWh per year used for air conditioning.
Previous Weird & Wireless:
Joel Young, VP of Research and Development and CTO at Digi International,
has more than 22 years of experience in developing and managing data
and voice communications. He joined Digi International in June 2000 and
in his current role he is responsible for research and development of
all of Digi's core products.
Prior to joining Digi, Joel was VP of Sales & Marketing at Transcrypt International where he was responsible for sales, marketing, and product development for all information security products. During his tenure at Transcrypt, he also served as VP of Product Development and VP of Engineering where he was responsible for engineering, research and product development for wireless communications products, cellular telephony, wireline telephony and land mobile radio, data security and specialized digital radio products.
He also served as District Manager for AT&T Business Communications Services where he was responsible for the creation and implementation of voice processing and network database strategies, including deploying new voice processing platforms into the AT&T switched network for private network and other outbound calling services.
In doing my analysis, I categorized the devices into three categories:
1) Naked wall-warts - these are the power supplies that are plugged into a socket with nothing really attached. They are plugged in 24×7 and are only connected to actual gadgets perhaps 10 percent of the time.
2) 24×7 wall-warts - these are the power supplies that are plugged into devices that are ON all the time. The best example of this is my WiFi access point. Hence, I only look at the total power of the device.
3) Sleeping gadgets - these are gadgets that use power even when they are turned off. I like to think of them as sleeping. Example of this is my computer on standby which consumes about 3 watts.
So the results are... (remember, before you judge - inventory your own home).
Total gadgets were 102, of which 52 fell into the naked wall-wart category, 24 are on 24×7 and 26 are sleeping.
I measure the power usage of all these devices and added them up (quite a time consuming task for which I received a lot of grief from the rest of my family).
While every little bit counts, it turns out that the naked wall-warts really only amount to 189 kWh per year. While every little bit does add up, I think I'm better off trying to reduce the 3,600 kWh per year used for air conditioning.Previous Weird & Wireless:
- Weird & Wireless: How did we end up with a kilowatt-hour?
- Weird & Wireless: Why is the use of cell phones discouraged around petrol pumps?
- Weird & Wireless: What is the difference between a human eye and an antenna?
- Weird & Wireless: What's the deal with electronics and radios on airplanes?
- Weird & Wireless: Can batteries be left out in the cold?
- Weird & Wireless: GPS, and how do those satellites know where I am?
- Weird & Wireless: Do microwave ovens cause cancer?
- Weird & Wireless: Why can I use a 2.4-GHz phone and 802.11 network at the same time?
Joel Young, VP of Research and Development and CTO at Digi International,
has more than 22 years of experience in developing and managing data
and voice communications. He joined Digi International in June 2000 and
in his current role he is responsible for research and development of
all of Digi's core products.Prior to joining Digi, Joel was VP of Sales & Marketing at Transcrypt International where he was responsible for sales, marketing, and product development for all information security products. During his tenure at Transcrypt, he also served as VP of Product Development and VP of Engineering where he was responsible for engineering, research and product development for wireless communications products, cellular telephony, wireline telephony and land mobile radio, data security and specialized digital radio products.
He also served as District Manager for AT&T Business Communications Services where he was responsible for the creation and implementation of voice processing and network database strategies, including deploying new voice processing platforms into the AT&T switched network for private network and other outbound calling services.
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Comments (6)
When almost half the world lives on a dollar or less a day, I would have thought $193 a year was quite useful. People from outside the UK often find our switched sockets quite strange. The switch is however a good thing and switch it off when you are not using it is best practice surely.
I must do some counting round my house but I am sure I have do have as much stuff as Joel.
Again as I am a Brit my aircon bill at my home is zero as I do not have one!
If you want to reduce you aircon bill then insulate you house. Have a read about passive houses (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_house) for ideas.
People from USA cause on average twice the CO2 emmisions of Western Europeans.
I do not think that power adapters (wall worts) are a massive cause of this but at $193 there must be a big scope for improvement.
Simon.
NetARM hacker by day ;)
Posted by Simon Ellwood | September 8, 2009 1:56 PM
Posted on September 8, 2009 13:56
Hear, hear for the UK system. Not only switched but also better physical protection against small fingers and a substantial earth pin.
No earth => no 'leccy.
Posted by James | September 16, 2009 12:18 PM
Posted on September 16, 2009 12:18
I reduce the running cost of some of my wall-warts through a special extension cable I made up.
The cable has a time delayed off switch, and the fact it is on the cable means that it's more accessible than the switch on the wall, and tidier than unplugging.
The switch I used: Horstman E30 booster switch (more usually used in electrical heating applications)
http://www.screwfix.com/prods/93158/Plumbing/Central-Heating-Controls/Horstmann-E30-Boost-Timeswitch
I have confirmed that the switch does not consume any power.
The only downside is some PDA's switch on for awhile (or switch their display light on temporarily) when the power goes off (surely a design flaw)
Miles
Posted by Miles Thomas | September 30, 2009 1:31 PM
Posted on September 30, 2009 13:31
A simple calculation - about 50 million mobile phone users in the UK - and so about 50 million WWs. From the table above, average naked WW power demand is a seemingly insignificant 0.5W. But, if all 50m were plugged in all the time, that's 25MW (a reasonable size gas turbine) spinning just to keep them, well, doing nothing...
Posted by Paul Harding | October 1, 2009 1:31 PM
Posted on October 1, 2009 13:31
Good point, Paul. Scale is always tricky, isn't it. Something small in isolation can add up. You still often hit the inertia of 'Why should I bother to do [X], when China will be building a new power station every week...'
Posted by Alun Williams - Electronics Weekly.com
|
October 1, 2009 2:21 PM
Posted on October 1, 2009 14:21
Hey Miles - good for you. That sounds interesting. I am going to switch my hats and put on my 'Gadget Freak' one, and ask that you send in some more details on what you created (a pic or two, and a build overview) - that would be much aprreciated (please send to: webmaster@electronicsweekly.com)
Posted by Alun Williams - Electronics Weekly.com
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October 1, 2009 2:27 PM
Posted on October 1, 2009 14:27