energy saving gear...

[bottomfeedins]

If companies started producing "Energy Star" amps (or any other gear for that matter), would people buy it?

[Pilgrim]

There's no point. Most amps aren't turned on unless they're being used.

But there WOULD be a point to putting on/off switches on wall warts. Tons of people leave those plugged in, and they suck power 24 hours a day.

[Ed Fuqua]

Or you could just play this...



Look, Ma, NoAmp....

[ggunn]

Originally Posted by Pilgrim

There's no point. Most amps aren't turned on unless they're being used.

But there WOULD be a point to putting on/off switches on wall warts. Tons of people leave those plugged in, and they suck power 24 hours a day.

I don't believe that is so (beyond the losses in the transformer) if the device it is powering is unplugged from it or turned off. In an ideal transformer, there is no current in the primary if the secondary is an open circuit. Even when they are on, they don't draw that much power; a 1A 9V supply uses about 10 watts of power. At $0.10 per kilowatt hour that's about 1 cent per 10 hours of operation.

[Sartori]

What is a "wall wart"?

[ggunn]

Originally Posted by Sartori

What is a "wall wart"?

A transformer that plugs directly into a wall socket.

[Jumbotron]

Originally Posted by ggunn

I don't believe that is so (beyond the losses in the transformer) if the device it is powering is unplugged from it or turned off. In an ideal transformer, there is no current in the primary if the secondary is an open circuit. Even when they are on, they don't draw that much power; a 1A 9V supply uses about 10 watts of power. At $0.10 per kilowatt hour that's about 1 cent per 10 hours of operation.

If it's warm, it's using power. And even though the amount is really, really small, that stuff adds up in a hurry--witness the recent calculations of massive energy use due to spam emails.

[ggunn]

Originally Posted by Jumbotron

If it's warm, it's using power. And even though the amount is really, really small, that stuff adds up in a hurry--witness the recent calculations of massive energy use due to spam emails.

Do you have a computer that you never turn off? I'll bet it uses at least a hundred times as much power as an idle wall wart, especially if it has a CRT monitor. Spam is a problem because there's so blinkin' MUCH of it. If there were a couple hundred million wall warts all turned on doing nothing, and you could somehow turn them all off, then maybe you'd have something. Otherwise you are rearranging deck furniture on the Titanic.

The warmth generated by a wall wart that is not actively providing power is due to the losses in the transformer, and I'm pretty sure that the power consumed is a fraction of a watt. Even assuming that it's one watt, that translates to about one cent per 100 hours of operation.

If you want to make a difference, clean your AC filters, weatherstrip your doors and windows, and put in a ridge vent. Put your wall warts on a power strip that you can turn off if it makes you feel like you're doing something for the ecology, but you won't see the difference on your utility bill.

[Jumbotron]

My basic point is that every little thing matters. How many wall warts does the average household have running at one time? Put those all on power strips and turn them off when not in use, and I bet that's a non-trivial number of power plants that could be shut down.

[ggunn]

Originally Posted by Jumbotron

My basic point is that every little thing matters.

That's true in the ideal sense. In real terms, however, maybe not. Say you can somehow fit four wall warts on a power strip, and if we assume 1 watt per quiescent wall wart, the power they consume costs 1 about cent per 25 hours of operation. Say the power strip costs ten bucks. The savings from the turned off wall warts will take 25,000 hours, or nearly three years of continuous 24/7 operation merely to break even.

So although it is true that everything counts, if you are really concerned about saving power rather than haranguing over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, there are other things you can spend your time and energy pursuing that will make far more difference.

[fdeck]

The biggest energy savings would come from being able to drive a smaller car.

[tplyons]

Nope. I don't think it would make a lick of difference.

Yes, I buy EnergyStar where I can, I bought a more fuel efficient car, and I try to hug trees whenever possible, but if it sounds like butt, I ain't buying it.