Standby Energy Loss

Back in 2001, UC Berkeley published an interesting article on how eliminating “standby” electricity loss from home appliances could save big on the utility bill. The Government of South Australia published an entire webpage regarding this subject. It offers some numbers as to how much energy some appliances use in standby that I find worth re-posting here:
- Fax machines: 4.7 – 11.6 W
- VCR’s: 2.0 – 6.6 W
- TV’s (68cm): 0.6 – 12.7 W
- Scanners (flatbed): 8.3 – 14.2 W on standby; 0 – 5.1 W switched off
- Printers (inkjet): 1.6 – 8.6 W on standby; 0 – 8.4 W switched off
(Figures sourced from CHOICE Dec 2000)

The only real sustainable option on how to deal with this is to purchase appliances and gadgets that can be turned off entirely. Since this is not always available, the only good advice I can give is to unplug these things when they are not in use. Engadget recently posted about a device that could take care of this for you. The Domia Bye Bye Standby is currently only available in the UK. Nevertheless, this gadget looks like a good start to eliminate standby energy loss.
To help pinpoint which of your gadgets uses the most standby power, look to P3 International’s Kill A Watt.