NYT: Plugged-In Age Feeds a Hunger for Electricity

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An eye-opening look at how our insatiable demand for gadgets, and our inattention to their power consumption, have dramatically increased demand for electricity. “The proliferation of personal computers, iPods, cellphones, game consoles and all the rest amounts to the fastest-growing source of power demand in the world. Americans now have about 25 consumer electronic products in every household, compared with just three in 1980… [the nation’s gaming consoles] now use about the same amount of electricity each year as San Diego, the ninth-largest city in country.” Ouch.

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  1. Ashish

    Excellent link! And that is true not just in US but in all the world. I am guilty of myself buying an LCD just a month back and the power is always on. It has been generally observed that the trends in US come to India with a time gap. This time gap is very low for electronics and electricity based items. We are too consuming a lot of electricity of late despite paying huge sums (by our standards) on it. We face a power cut for 2-3 hours daily and the situation in small towns and villages is even grimmer with virtually no electricity for almost all day. Still it seems taht no one cares. Just put on your inverter and enjoy life even when the electricity is not on.

  2. ddalley

    I don’t put up with a TV that eats power while I sleep or when I am not home. I use a UPS to protect expensive electronic equipment and when I turn off the UPS, _everything_ connected to it is off 100%. You all can do the same. It may not be as convenient to use and the electronics may not necessarily like it, either, but we waste 4% of our power keeping just our TVs “warm”. Shame on us!

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