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Priority Interrupt
Archive
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December
2004, Issue 173
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Priority
Interrupt
by Steve Ciarcia
What's
Another Watt or Two?
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I
have been writing my editorial for 16 years, but I still
can’t predict whether or not something is going
to strike a chord. I rant about significant issues like
global Internet security and RFID technology, and I
get one or two e-mails about it. Another time, I’ll
make a simple comment about the “paperless office,”
where I seem to have more paper than ever before, and
I’ll get a couple dozen very detailed communications.
These people aren’t just agreeing with me, mind
you. A subscriber comment in Circuit Cellar’s techno-consumed
readership means I get e-mails describing the medical
impact of the increased stress of maintaining a paperless
office, about environmental impact studies on the paper
production industry, and paper manufacturing statistics
for the last 20 years. There is certainly a wealth of
opinion and information in this readership. I love it.
I shouldn’t be surprised by all of the responses
I got regarding last month’s editorial (www.circuitcellar.com/library/priorityinterrupt/archive.asp)
in which I described my excited revelation that all
of the power leaks from wall warts around my house were
adding up to hundreds of dollars a month. I started
receiving e-mails within a few hours of Circuit Cellar’s
Electronic Edition posting. Here are a few of the first
ones:
“Just finished your editorial in Circuit Cellar.
As always, enjoyed it immensely. But this time I actually
felt that I had something to contribute in return…A
friend recently went ‘off the grid.’ Built
a big home back side of nowhere, solar panels, UPS,
batteries, etc. The #1 energy waster? Those wall warts!
Even when turned off, they still suck milli-amps.
This probably isn’t any great surprise to you,
but it was great to see that Zilog’s eZ80 development
kit had a couple solid-state wall warts to replace
the big heavy transformers. Just from my measurements
I estimate their efficiency at over 98% from disconnected
to fully loaded (5V at over 3A)!”—George
Warner
“I
guess I’m an Amish farmer at heart. My electric
bill peeks at forty dollars. Other than three X-10
switches and one X-10 floodlight everything gets unplugged
when not in use. I like the Stone Age. :-)…As
for your dog Katy needing a miner’s lamp, she
doesn’t need one. Dogs do not see in color. That
advantage allows them to collect more ambient light
in the eye. They also go more by the sense of smell.
Blind dogs can do quite well.”—Bob Paddock
“I have been where you were when you wrote about
the power consumption of ‘always on’ devices.
I live in air-conditioned South Florida and I also have
an electric water heater and an electric range. Still,
I consider my power bill very high. When my bill went
over $450/month this summer, I started looking around.
At about 10 cents/KWh, I’m also spending about
$70/month on ‘quiescent power,’ and the rest
is PCs on 24×7, AV components on standby, etc.…At
this point I’m truly wondering if it’s time
to get back to devices that draw nothing when they are
off, and have no leakage/sense current flowing for things
like X-10 switches, RF and IR interfaces, etc. Maybe
it’s time to look at an 89-cent solution—the
old mechanical toggle light switch from Home Depot!
;-)”—Gordon Cunningham
“The electric bill here (New York Con Edison) is
21.1648 cents per kWh. Even a single person in a small
apartment can easily run over $100/month bill without
using HVAC. [In] the old days you flipped a switch to
the OFF position and [the] problem was solved. Today’s
appliances and gadgets remain ON even with the switch
turned OFF.”—Dusan Benko
“I’m (thankfully ;) not running in the same
league as you for home power consumption—but I
became interested in characterizing power usage in my
home just about a year ago. I thought briefly about
putting a current sense transformer on every circuit
at the power panel, then factored my work and family
schedule and projected when that project might be complete…So,
I backpedaled and started quite simply—whole house
power recording [by non-intrusively monitoring the existing
outside power meter]…The result is my WattWatcher
(http://smartfamily.home.mchsi.com/Hardware/WattWatcher/).
There you can find [the complete design details and
software for] this simple system and my findings on
several charts from 5 minute resolution to most of the
last year. The big spikes are the electric clothes dryer.”—Dave
Smart
My
hat is off to these early birds who were inspired (or
riled) enough to add their opinions on a hot topic.
Unfortunately, I also appreciate that the true solution
may be something I don’t like and, as Bob put it,
living in the Stone Age. Certainly, there will be a
compromise between energy consumption and cost that
gets the power industry replacing power-wasting transformers
the same way they replaced regular light bulbs with
fluorescents. We just have to wait until they need those
extra watts and they give us something more efficient
as a replacement.
In the meantime, I can’t just shut off the lights.
While Katy may certainly see very well in the dark,
there is the unresolved issue of which one of us is
the real dog who can’t learn new tricks. We’ve
both become accustomed to certain accommodations and
conveniences. In her case, I’m welcome to shut
off the floodlights, but I better plan on holding a
flashlight and bringing a big cookie every time she
goes out at night from now on.
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