As people turn off the lights for Earth Hour this evening and ponder their electricity use, one of the world's most rapidly growing power guzzlers -- for which nearly everyone carries responsibility -- is largely hidden from view. It's the invisible backbone of the Internet. The popularity of all the twittering, blogging, music downloading, and Facebooking has had a little-known environmental downside, by boosting the demand for ... It's a growth in demand that has come out of nowhere, and equals the amount of power produced by 17 large, coal-fired generating stations.
The total cost of electricity needed to run the world's growing twittering, blogging, music downloading, and Facebooking fleet has been projected to rise by a compounded rate of about 11 per cent a year from 2005 to 2010 (or add 15 more large, coal-fired generating stations.) Read more via Globe and Mail
Still think turning off your lights will make a big dent?
Lets make a real difference this year. How about the gadgets when your done... turn off your by having a main powerstrip or your work computer...
Example...
According to a recent study, the Sony PlayStation 3 consumes 33.34 kWh (weekly consumption) when on and playing a game. That is more than a Plasma TV who uses 29.68 kWh when on and playing a DVD.
When the same game console is off (back switch on) it still consumes 0.30 kWh. Microsoft Xbox 360 consumes 0.40 kWh when off and 26.00 kWh when on and playing.
Tests also found that leaving a PlayStation 3 on while not in use would cost almost $250 a year in electricity bills (charged at 15c per kWh). This alone is around five times more than it would take to run a refrigerator for the same yearly period.
The only way to be sure these energy hungry gadgets don't consume energy (and your money) is to make sure they are switched off and unplugged when you are not using them.
Lights out really? What about Simple Office PCs at Night
These Vampires represent between 5 and 8 percent of a single family home's total electricity use per year, according to the Department of Energy.
The study found nearly half of US workers who use a PC at their job do not typically shut down at night.
The 2009 PC Energy Report, which examines workplace PC power consumption in the US, UK and Germany, estimated that US organizations waste $2.8 billion a year to power 108 million unused machines. In 2009, these unused PCs are expected to emit approximately 20 million tons of carbon dioxide, roughly the equivalent impact of 4 million cars.
Every year the information and telecom technology industry generates 2% of the world’s carbon emissions — the same as a year’s worth of air traffic. Moreover, PCs and monitors account for 39% of these emissions, equivalent to the emissions of approximately 46 million cars.
