Phantom Power

My power usage has doubled in the last three years. As it would happen, the average temperature in January 2006 and January 2009 were only a degree apart and a relatively mild 32 and 33 degrees. While I technically have gas heat, electricity is needed to force the air around so the more the heat runs the more electricity I use.

So I decided to start with the living room entertainment center which consists of a tube TV, Tivo, Apple TV and PS3. The Apple TV and PS3 didn’t exist 3 years ago so I decided to start there. I plugged the Apple TV, PS3 and TV into a power strip and plugged that power strip into a Kill-o-Watt meter.

All three of those devices remained unused for 25 hours which is when I checked the meter. It had used 0.57 KWh just sitting there not doing anything. This would cost me $2.88/mth and $35.07/yr and my current rate. Well, it’s not exactly true they weren’t in use. The Apple TV did a sync or two when I started iTunes on my Mac, but that’s all. It does give a true measurement as to how much power those things use just sitting there.

The Tivo needs to stay plugged in so it does it’s recording. But the other three can be powered off as they are unused most of the say. In fact, the PS3 will probably be unplugged as it can go weeks between uses. It won’t save enough to be noticeable on the monthly bill since it fluctuates more than a couple bucks a month, but at least it will seem like I saving something. I just won’t think about the possibility that booting the Apple TV uses more power than a couple days sitting idle.

Tags: electricity