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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Modern gadgets can be a real drain

Dallas Morning News

Many consumers have gotten the gifts that keep on taking.

They received video game players, mobile music players, the latest computers and televisions, many with the same characteristic — the ability to keep sucking down electricity even when they’re not in use.

It’s the power adapters that drain a little bit of electricity all the time, even though no device is plugged into them.

It’s the high-definition television that can pull more than 10 watts of power when it’s not turned on. It’s the computer that sips while it sleeps.

The Christmastime electronic harvest spotlights a quiet but expensive change in Americans’ habits: Even as refrigerators, dryers and other big devices get more efficient, consumers are pumping up their utility bills thanks to an ever-growing reliance on personal electronics.

These gadgets now account for 15 percent of electricity use, triple the share in 1980. By 2015, the government estimates, personal electronics will consume a third of all electricity use.

Power adapters get much of the blame, because they stay plugged in — and drawing current — whether in use or not.

There are now five adapters for every American, according to Denise Durrett, an official with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

“We’ve got an increase in the amounts of personal gadgets,” she said. “We’ve got PDAs (personal digital assistants), cellphones, BlackBerries and digital cameras. All these get their power from power adapters.”

It’s like termites attacking your house: It isn’t the size of each bug. It’s the number of bugs and the time they spend munching away.

“Right now, if you go through your house and you see the various consumer electronics products you have, they’re responsible for about 15 percent of your electricity use,” Durrett said. “That compares to 5 percent in 1980.”

In other words, if your electricity bill runs $2,500 this year, $375 of that is for the cell phone, iPod, computer, television, kitchen mixer, hair dryer and so forth.

Most consumers think of their refrigerators, electric dryers, heating and cooling systems and such as the energy wasters, but Durrett said those big appliances and systems are becoming more efficient over time.

Those big appliances and the heating and cooling systems are still the biggest users in the house, but energy usage “is pretty static” because of their growing efficiency, she said.

Most consumer electronics are also becoming more efficient — it’s just that there are so many of them. And many of them use electricity, on or off.

“This consumer electronic usage is going to increase over the next 10 years,” said Durrett, “because we’re bringing more and more in homes.”

Take a traditional analog television, the one with the cathode ray tube. A 27-inch Sony TV built in 1987 pulls about 4.7 watts of power when off. That’s a lot less than the 125 to 145 watts it can pull when it’s on, but still a waste.

A 10-year-old Symphonic TV/VCR combo, with only a 9-inch screen, pulls 8.7 watts when off, compared with 50 watts when in use.

An old power adapter for a Fisher-Price baby monitor pulls 2.4 watts, even when it’s not plugged into the receiver.

“The way people can save with power adapters is to simply unplug them when you’re done using them,” Durrett said.