In a message dated 8/21/07 9:58:42 AM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> There was an article a while ago in Circuit Cellar > magazine where the author (I think it was Steve Ciarcia himself) described > the originas of his high electric bills as surprising...all those clock > radios, microwave, dishwasher, TVs etc, etc. despite being 'off' still > collectively drew a lot of current that addded up. I have a friend who > uses power strips to turn off *everything*. He says it's the only > solution these days. > I call shenanigans. Or at least a need for better math. Yes, there are some devices today that continue to consume small amounts of power even when visibly turned off. This is done for three reasons: 1) Keep the settings stored in volatile memory 2) Keep a clock or other indicator working 3) Keep the remote-control receiver alive so that you can turn the unit on with the clicker. In addition, many small electronic devices are powered by wall warts rather than internal supplies so that they can be world-usable, smaller, and not have to meet the same safety requirements as something that plugs into the wall. Typical of such things are: Computers with ATX or similar power supplies Monitors Printers VCRs/DVD players TVs Microwaves Stoves Let's say you have 20 of these items, and each one draws 5 watts while idle. That's 100 watts of power demand, all the time. That's one-tenth kilowatt hour. In a year of 365 days, there are 8760 hours. With a 100 watt load, that's 876 kilowatt hours per *year* to run all the devices. This number is on the high side because it assumes you never use any of the devices at all, but simply let them be on standby the entire time. So let's assume the devices are on standby 90% of the time, and in actual use 10%. Say 800 kilowatt hours of standby. 800 kWh is a considerable amount of juice - but how much does it really cost you? Here in EPA, where electricity prices are pretty high, I pay about 13 cents per kWh, so the annual cost is $104. That's $8.67 per month for that theoretical 100 watt load. Except I don't have so many things plugged in drawing standby power, so I'd guess it to be about $6 per month. Twenty cents per day. In other parts of the country, electricity is far cheaper. At 5 cents per kWh, you're talking $40 per year or $3.33 per month. 11 cents a day What does a kilowatt-hour cost *you*? 73 de Jim, N2EY ************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
