Those were “blessed” times, when turning off your appliance guaranteed you'd save energy and your bills would be a joy to read. Personal computers didn't exist in the 1960s, but then, there were no washing machines in the USSR either. When children were read “The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish,” they didn't need to be told what a trough was.
It was an essential part of the household. Just like a washboard. Someone we knew who visited the US at the time told us he'd seen this “device” labeled “antique” at a garage sale, and the price was high. We laughed for a long time, because it was still quite popular in the USSR.
Today, approximately fifty appliances and devices are silently consuming electricity in our homes, despite appearing to be switched off. And this situation tends to increase as more devices are added to the apartment. At least a quarter of the average family's electricity consumption is currently consumed by unplugged devices. If we were to convert this from a family's energy consumption to, say, the entire US, the total expenditure would be $19 billion, and fifty powerful power plants would have to meet this consumption. Let's also consider the environmental impact of this wasted electricity. After all, electricity production in the US alone accounts for 37% of the world's carbon dioxide emissions.
Scientists tested about thirty appliances used in American families. Of course, not every family uses exactly that many. Lighting wasn't counted. Televisions—usually, there are two or more, not just one… Cable TV boxes. Now that's where we're being robbed. Even if you don't turn on the television at all, each of these “black boxes” consumes 227 kilowatt-hours per year. According to World Bank estimates, that's more than the average person in a country like Kenya consumes. Computers—there are sometimes as many computers in a family these days as there are adults. Only little kids don't have them. But they do have electronic tablets, notepads, electronic games, and so on… This type of information-intensive “entertainment” is especially gluttonous.
When these devices are plugged in just to recharge, they consume the same amount of electricity even when fully charged. An e-reader, for example, uses 4.5 kilowatt-hours of electricity per week if it's not unplugged. If you leave it charging overnight, it'll continue to devour electricity, leaving you wondering why your bill has gone up. It seems like the lights turn off perfectly well at night. The same goes for phones… and for any device that requires recharging. However, the good news is that this consumption varies depending on the model and battery usage. It's easy to imagine how much electricity is consumed in the US, given that roughly two-thirds of the population currently owns laptops, half owns tablets, and 64% own smartphones… That's a combined 36% of households owning all three.
In 2014, 73% of American households used a high-speed internet connection. This requires at least one modem and one router. They don't consume much power, just like modern TVs today, but they're never unplugged. Just like TVs, by the way. After all, they need to be on at all times to use the remote control.
Many appliances used by our very close ancestors are also switching to internet service. Light bulbs, microwaves, refrigerators, coffee makers, even mattresses can be connected to the internet. Consequently, they too will consume electricity constantly. The latest models of dishwashers and washing machines have become much more energy-efficient, but many of them have also featured digital displays in recent years. They also consume energy, albeit very little. Today, a washing machine that hasn't even started but is ready to use consumes 7 watts, while a machine that's turned off but plugged in consumes 4 watts. And when it's on, there's nothing to talk about. It's a huge power hog.
Despite the increasing efficiency of household appliances, consumption continues to grow. While the average American consumed 5,590 kilowatt-hours annually in 1966, by 2013 it had risen to around 13,000.
But don't blame everything on power-hungry electronics. An old, reliable coffee maker and a tap water filter can consume up to 900 watts just when turned on for a few minutes. If a person runs their coffee maker every day for ten minutes, they consume 50 kilowatt-hours annually, or more than a Nigerian resident consumes in the same amount of time.
So how can we combat this gluttony? Today, many utility companies are ready to provide consumers with information on hourly electricity consumption, and meters that track hourly energy consumption have already begun to be installed. This isn't as trivial as it might seem at first glance. If a family notices that consumption, and therefore expenses, consistently increases at seven o'clock in the evening, for example, they will consider saving at that time.
The easiest way is to use a power strip with several devices plugged into it—TVs, cable boxes, DVD players, and so on—and then unplug it with a single flick of a switch. However, this will turn off the clock, cut off the internet, and potentially lose valuable information. So, this isn't the best solution. However, today, about a quarter of the average family's electricity consumption comes from devices that remain “on” in standby mode. The same applies to electric heaters, if they have displays, light bulbs, or clocks. It's easier to unplug them if you don't expect to need them anytime soon. pixabay.com
There's no way out of today's situation. Unless we return to the antediluvian times, when a washboard was an essential addition to a washtub, a tube television, or a radio, and connecting with someone we needed was often a major challenge. But there were no flat-screen TVs, washing machines, dryers, or dishwashers, without which it's impossible to imagine running a household today; no computers, cell phones, or tablets with information equal to the British Library and even more… A return to all the delights of the “happy past,” which old people sometimes nostalgically reminisce about, without realizing how miserable and wretched such a life was from a modern perspective. No, it's better not to go back to the past, but to have the future come to us.
Humanity will probably come to a solution to this problem, too. But judging by the slow pace with which it's being addressed, people don't consider it a top priority. And maybe they're right to do so. But the bills are mounting…
