Mythbusters at home

As we all know, environmentalism seems to be very much in vogue right now. Predictably, it has resulted in a spate of columns and news segments devoted to how to conserve energy. Far too often, the writer/commentator tries to convince the reader/listener that unplugging certain things from the wall will actually save you significant quantities of money/energy. I was skeptical. Fortunately, I had recently purchased this wonderful gadget to determine just how much energy was being drawn, in power-on, power-off, and standby modes. I decided to use it to test most everything plugged in in our apartment (aside from laundry machines and refrigerator). I've listed the data at the bottom of this post. Among my conclusions are:

- Contrary to what you might read, the following things consumed no power when they were powered off: hair dryer, toaster, laptop power cord (when not connected to computer), cell phone charger (without phone plugged in) and most lamps (only one exception)
- The most "short burst" power was consumed by the hair dryer on high (1530W), followed by the microwave (1300W) and toaster (950W). Among things that are left mostly "on", our floor lamp with dimmer consumed the most (140W) when turned all the way up.
- High-tech, modern stuff was surprisingly efficient. Our 26" LCD TV consumed only 71W (just more than a standard 60W bulb), Tracy's computer ranged from 30W-45W when it was doing work (14W when it wasn't), and mine (newer) was even less than that at 20W-27W.
- Most surprising fact: my printer consumed the same amount of energy (3W) regardless of whether it was powered on or off. Other items that consumed energy just by being plugged in (powered off) were my speaker system (2W off, 4W on), the DVD player (1W off, 7W on), and (surprisingly!) my desk lamp (1W off, 42W on)

Given these measurements, then, it is possible to say that the following are equivalent in energy consumption to running a 60W bulb for an hour:

- Running my laptop (no external monitor) for about 2 hours
- Running my laptop (with monitor) for about an hour
- Watching my TV for about 51 minutes
- Running the microwave for about 2 minutes and 40 seconds
- Running the hair dryer on high for about 2 minutes and 20 seconds
- Charging my phone for about 12 hours
- Reading in bed at night for 3.5 hours

On the whole, our home is very energy efficient anyway, with gas plus electricity only about $30-$35 per month (and I'm guessing the fridge, laundry and dishwasher use most of that). Based on the results of this study, I have unplugged my printer and speaker system and encouraged anyone willing to listen who is interested in conservation to buy a Kill-a-Watt! Here is raw data:

Item	Consumption (off)	Consumption (on)
Toaster	0	950
Microwave	2	1300
Radio	0-1	1-2
CD player (same appliance)	2-3	4
Tracy’s computer	0 (unconnected)8 (charging)	13 (standby) 30-45 (active use)
Floor lamp 1	0	49 (low – one 60W bulb) 84 (high – two 60W bulbs)
Floor lamp 2	0	50-140 (dimmer)
Speaker system	2	4
DVD Player	1	7
26” LCD TV	0-1	71
Piano Keyboard	0	10
Adam’s laptop	N/A	14 (standby) 20-27 (active use)
19” LCD Monitor	0	0-1 (standby) 33 (active use)
Phone Charger	0 (unconnected to phone)	5 (charging phone)
Desk Lamp	1	42
Printer	3	3
Bedside Lamp	0	17 (CFL bulb)
Clock Radio	N/A	0
Electric Toothbrush	0	0
Hair Dryer	0	418 (low) 1530 (high)
Router	0	5