Idle Electronics and Appliances Waste $19 Billion Annually, Study Says

Roughly $19 billion worth of electricity — an amount equal to the output of 50 large power plants — is devoured annually in the U.S. by household electronics and appliances when their owners are not actively using them, according to a study by the Natural Resources Defense Council.  These always-on but inactive devices account for nearly 23 percent of home electricity use in California, the researchers found after analyzing data from 70,000 residential smart meters.

The cost of this so-called "vampire" energy drain, which provides little benefit to consumers, averages $165 per household per year, but it can be as high as $440 in areas with high electricity prices, the study says.  Appliances that consume a lot of power when in use, such as heating and cooling systems and refrigerators, accounted for just 15 percent of the vampire consumption.  The majority — 51 percent — is drawn by consumer electronics such as televisions, computers, printers, and game consoles.  For example, a desktop computer can rack up an annual vampire energy cost of $49, whereas something as small as a coffee maker can waste $6 in electricity each year, the report says.

Idle Electronics and Appliances Waste $19 Billion Annually, Study Says