Evaluation of the standby energy savings potential of power control devices

Panel: 6. Innovations in buildings and appliances

This is a peer-reviewed paper.

Authors:
Paul Ryan, EnergyConsult Pty Ltd, Australia
Murray Pavia, EnergyConsult, Australia

Abstract

Generally more than 10% of the energy consumption of residential consumer electronic and office equipment occurs when these devices are not in use, resulting in active or passive standby energy use. The movement towards introducing mandatory energy efficiency requirements will reduce the passive standby power losses of future electronic devices. However, the introduction of these requirements will not affect the energy consumption of the existing stock, nor will it greatly affect active standby power losses and so a duel approach is required to reduce current and future standby power use. A recent field study has shown that while active standby can be the major contributor to standby consumption, ‘smart’ power control technologies exist which can reduce the standby energy losses of the existing stock of electronic devices.

This paper reports on a study of the potential impact of one such power control technology which can be used to monitor and control the energy use of a range of devices including televisions, audio/visual products and personal computer peripherals. A small intrusive household survey was undertaken involving detailed metering and data-logging of audio visual and PC equipment energy usage. The methodology combined a pre and post comparison of residential energy usage, recorded when and how much the power control would have reduced energy consumption. This enabled accurate estimates of the existing standby energy consumption and potential savings to be established.

The study established that active standby power consumption is a major contributor to energy consumption for both PC and audio-visual equipment, and that ‘smart’ power controllers such as the one tested may have great potential to significantly reduce passive and active standby energy wastage. In this study the controller saved 54% of the energy use of the AV equipment and 41% of the energy use of the PC equipment. In addition, the control device required minimal user intervention.