Family members, these 5 electrical appliances are "power-consuming assassins", don't forget to unplug them when you return home for the holidays

During the Spring Festival holiday, most people will return to their hometowns to celebrate the festival. However, every year after the holiday, many people find that they still have to pay a lot of electricity bills. Many people wonder why they have to pay so much electricity bills when they have not been home for a long time?

Here I would like to introduce a concept to you, that is " standby energy consumption " - if the plug is not unplugged, even if the appliance is not turned on, it will still consume power in standby mode. In daily life, the power consumption of some common electrical appliances is not low.

Today, we have listed the top 5 hidden "power-consuming assassins". Be sure to unplug the power before returning home!

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Since the same appliance of different brands and specifications has different standby power, here we will focus on the data of the "Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory" in the United States, because this organization has more "standby power" data. At the same time, we will also refer to the results of online bloggers' tests using "power sockets".

" Power-hungry assassin" 1: Set-top box

According to data from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the top three median standby power consumption are: uninterruptible power supply (UPS), set-top box, and electric water heater. Uninterruptible power supply is not common in ordinary households, so set-top box and electric water heater are the top power-consuming assassins.

Standby power data measured by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Image source: Reference 1

Many people may not have thought that this extremely common and inconspicuous set-top box at home would secretly consume so much power. However, according to the data of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, its median standby power consumption is 8 watts, and the maximum standby power consumption can even reach 30 watts.

Some media have mentioned that the standby power of a set-top box is almost the same as the power it uses, so the set-top box may be an unexpected "power-consuming assassin."

If calculated based on the median power of 8 watts, it will consume about 70 kWh of electricity per year, and at 0.6 yuan per kWh, it will consume 42 yuan per year. If calculated based on the maximum standby power of 30 watts, the electricity bill "stolen" by it will reach around 150 yuan per year, which is quite exaggerated.

There are also test results from other bloggers on the Internet using power sockets. The daily standby power consumption of the set-top box is around 3 to 5 watts, which is equivalent to an annual electricity bill of 15 to 25 yuan, which is not low.

Therefore, if you are away from home for a long time, it is recommended to unplug the set-top box.

" Electricity-consuming assassin" 2: Electric water heater

According to data from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the median standby power consumption of electric water heaters is 7.8 watts, second only to set-top boxes. The amount of electricity it "steals" in standby mode is not much different from that of set-top boxes, but compared to set-top boxes, electric water heaters may "stab" more severely.

If you don't unplug the water heater, it will not be in standby mode all the time. When the water temperature does not reach the set value, it will automatically heat up. So even if you don't use it at all, as long as it is plugged in, it will consume far more than 70 degrees of electricity per year . Calculated at 0.6 yuan per degree, it will consume more than 42 yuan of electricity per year. Therefore, even if you are too lazy to unplug it, it is recommended to pay attention to the electric water heater when you go out to avoid waste.

Power-hungry Assassin 3: Computers

In addition to these two super "waste assassins", there are some small "waste assassins" in the home, among which computers are one of the most common ones.

Whether it is a desktop computer or a laptop, if it is not turned off, it is still running in standby mode. Different models of computers and the devices connected to them will make the standby energy consumption vary greatly.

According to data from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the median standby power consumption of desktop computers is 2.7 watts, and that of laptops is 1.6 watts, with some even consuming more than 15 watts.

The data measured by the blogger using a power socket is between 3 watts and 4.4 watts. Taking this set of data as an example, if converted into power consumption, it will waste about 26 to 38 kWh of electricity per year. Calculated at 0.6 yuan per kWh, it may cost 15 to 23 yuan in electricity bills per year . Therefore, it is recommended to turn off the computer after use at home. After all, it doesn't take much effort to press a power button the next time you use it.

@PigeonTechLife

@Zero Degree Commentary

Power-hungry Assassin No. 4: Gaming Consoles

The game console is also a device with relatively high standby power consumption. The standby power data of the game console is published on the PlayStation official website.

The standby power of PS 4 and PS5 in rest mode is less than 1 watt, which is not high. However, if other functions are still turned on, such as maintaining a network connection, the game is in a paused state, and the device is supplying power to the USB port, the standby power will exceed 3 watts. Some models of PS4 will reach 8.2 watts, which is not low. Calculated based on the highest data of 8.2 watts, the annual power consumption can reach about 72 degrees. Calculated at 0.6 yuan/degree, the annual electricity consumption can reach about 43 yuan.

Image source: taken from the official PlayStation website

Most working people don’t actually use game consoles for a long time, so it is recommended to turn them off at ordinary times.

Power-hungry Assassin 5: Air Conditioning

According to data from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the median standby power of an air conditioner is 4 watts, which is relatively high. Bloggers on the Internet measured it at around 2 watts. In other words, when it is in full standby mode, the electricity bill consumed is around 10 yuan a year, which is not too high. If you basically don't use it anymore after summer, it is also recommended to simply unplug it.

In addition to the above five, the standby energy consumption of rice cookers, smart speakers, smart toilet lids, printers, and microwave ovens with smart control panels are also not low, so it is recommended to unplug these devices when you are not at home for a long time.

Summarize

Some people may think that wasting a few hundred yuan in electricity a year is not too much and is acceptable, but dealing with "power-consuming assassins" is not just a personal matter.

Considering only electricity costs, the standby power of most electrical appliances is not high, and the electricity cost of about 1 watt of standby power is only about 5 yuan a year. But once the scope is expanded to the whole country or the whole world, the standby power of a large number of electronic devices cannot be ignored.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) once launched an initiative that recommended reducing the standby power of all electronic devices to less than 1 watt. Although this goal has not yet been achieved, the original intention of the initiative is good.

According to the calculations at that time, if the standby power consumption of all electrical appliances was within 1 watt, this initiative could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 50 million tons in 2010, which is equivalent to reducing carbon emissions from 18 million vehicles. It can be seen that this number is quite considerable.

Therefore, for those electrical appliances that consume relatively high power in standby mode, try to unplug them when not in use for a long time. This not only saves you some electricity bills, but also contributes to environmental protection and eliminates some safety hazards.

References

[1]https://standby.lbl.gov/standby-power-data-metering

[2]https://www.playstation.com/en-lb/legal/ecodesign/

[3]http://paper.ce.cn/pc/content/202209/19/content_261131.html

Planning and production

Author: Science Scraps Popular Science Creator

Review丨Li ​​Cunpu, Professor of Chongqing University

Planning丨Zhong Yanping

Editor: Zhong Yanping

Proofread by Xu Lailinlin

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