Natural Resources Defense Council – Devices Wasting Huge Amounts of Electricity When Not in Active Use

• “Always-on” energy use by inactive appliances, electronics and miscellaneous electrical devices translates to $19 billion a year — about $165 per U.S. household on average.
• The average always-on load uses the same amount of electricity as brewing 234 cups of coffee every single day for a year — more than 85,000 cups of coffee.
• If all homes in the United States reduced their always-on load for inactive devices to the level of the 25 percent most efficient household in our survey, it could save consumers $8 billion on their annual utility bills and prevent 44 million metric tons of carbon dioxide pollution.

“There has been a veritable explosion in the number of electronics, appliances, and other miscellaneous devices plugged into, or permanently connected to, America’s homes. Most are consuming electricity around-the-clock, even when the owners are not using them or think they have been turned off. This always-on energy use by inactive devices translates to $19 billion a year — about $165 per U.S. household on average — and approximately 50 large (500-megawatt) power plants’ worth of electricity.”