WEBVTT - How Energy-efficient Electronics Work

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<v Speaker 1>Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.

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<v Speaker 1>It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With

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<v Speaker 1>tech stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hey there,

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<v Speaker 1>welcome to the podcast. My name is Chris Poulette. I'm

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<v Speaker 1>an editor here at how Stuff Works, and with me

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<v Speaker 1>is wonderful writer Jonathan's Strickland. How today we're going to

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<v Speaker 1>be talking about some of those energy suckers in your house,

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<v Speaker 1>better known as your electronics. Some of you may not

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<v Speaker 1>know this, so there was an article in Forbes that

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<v Speaker 1>said the average American household spends one thousand, four hundred

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<v Speaker 1>dollars each year on energy bills. That's a that's a

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<v Speaker 1>pretty hefty chunk of change. Well, it's not surprising. I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>if you think about it, a good sized plasma TV

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<v Speaker 1>can use up to fifty watts U Xbox seven, PlayStation

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<v Speaker 1>three seven watts. I mean you know those that that's

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<v Speaker 1>not an h in substantial amount of electricity there. Yeah. Actually,

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<v Speaker 1>there was a recent UH story published by Choice, which

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<v Speaker 1>is a consumer group in Australia that specifically looked at

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<v Speaker 1>game consoles and computers and UH they found that even

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<v Speaker 1>if you are running a PS three on idol. So,

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<v Speaker 1>so the machine is on but you're not doing anything.

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<v Speaker 1>It runs on about a thirty one point seventy four

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<v Speaker 1>killer what hours per week, which they figured out was

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<v Speaker 1>five times more than your medium sized refrigerator. So and

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<v Speaker 1>if you're playing a game, well watch out because it

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<v Speaker 1>consumes even more power. The we by the way, was

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<v Speaker 1>the least taxing on your energy. It ran on three

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<v Speaker 1>point one four killer what hours even if you're playing

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<v Speaker 1>a game, so one tenth of what the PlayStation three

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<v Speaker 1>runs on. Yeah, you know a lot of these machines too,

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<v Speaker 1>I mean the WE. I own a we um and

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<v Speaker 1>if you leave it Internet enabled so that they can

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<v Speaker 1>pull down messages from your friends, it's on even when

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<v Speaker 1>it's not on, you know where you actually see something

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<v Speaker 1>on the screen. So it's you know, you may forget

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<v Speaker 1>about these things, but they're always draining some kind of electricity. Actually,

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of electronics do that. Um. There's even a

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<v Speaker 1>term for it. There are several, in fact, but the

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<v Speaker 1>most popular one is probably vampire power. Uh. A vampire

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<v Speaker 1>electronic device is one that is going to draw power

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<v Speaker 1>even if the device itself has been powered off. So

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<v Speaker 1>even televisions do this. That's mostly because UH TVs need

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<v Speaker 1>a little time to warm up when you turn them on,

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<v Speaker 1>and by draining this a little bit amount of power,

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<v Speaker 1>it decreases the amount of time it takes for a

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<v Speaker 1>television to completely power up. So um, so there's reasoning

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<v Speaker 1>behind it, but it means that even if you've turned

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<v Speaker 1>off everything in your house, things are still drawing power.

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<v Speaker 1>That's true, and um you know, there are a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of ways that you can combat this. You can always

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<v Speaker 1>unplug your your devices. You can turn off a power

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<v Speaker 1>strip if if your TV and video game consoles are

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<v Speaker 1>plugged into a power strip. But some manufacturers are looking

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<v Speaker 1>into ways to cut down the amount of electricity that

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<v Speaker 1>they use even when they're on. For example, of when

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<v Speaker 1>Jonathan and I went to the Consumer Electronics Show earlier

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<v Speaker 1>this year, we saw television called the Eco TV offered

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<v Speaker 1>by Phillips, and it's an an l C D t V.

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<v Speaker 1>UH They use a lot of light to power the screen.

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<v Speaker 1>But what the Eco TV does it measures the amount

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<v Speaker 1>of ambient light in the room, so it can adjust

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<v Speaker 1>how much light it puts out to power the image

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<v Speaker 1>on the screen based on the amount of light that's

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<v Speaker 1>coming in the room, So it can kind of you know. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>like if you if you watch television in the dark room,

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<v Speaker 1>you don't need as much power to to make the

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<v Speaker 1>image visible. So uh so watching, uh watching those movies

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<v Speaker 1>in a nice little dark home theater system is of

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<v Speaker 1>energy efficient in fact, so hey, I'm what do you know?

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<v Speaker 1>I'm energy efficient because that's the way I prefer to

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<v Speaker 1>watch my movies and television. Uh. And in the United States,

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<v Speaker 1>the there's there's even a thing called energy Star. Now

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<v Speaker 1>energy Star that's sort of a designation about if something

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<v Speaker 1>has the energy Star label on it, that means that

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<v Speaker 1>it meets certain standards which are constantly being revised, and

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<v Speaker 1>by revised, they're usually getting better rather than worse, which

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<v Speaker 1>is a relief in the United States. Really true true?

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<v Speaker 1>Um yeah. As a matter of fact, there are a

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<v Speaker 1>number of uh different kinds of ratings that you can

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<v Speaker 1>get in addition to Energy Star, the manufacturers coalitions have

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<v Speaker 1>put together some some different ones too. Um. But basically,

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<v Speaker 1>if you can see the energy Star rating on the

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<v Speaker 1>side of a box, you know that it is meeting

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<v Speaker 1>minimum Environmental Protection Agency standards for uh, you know, energy usage,

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<v Speaker 1>right and uh And as our article points out in

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<v Speaker 1>two thousand seven, the Americans using energy Star products prevented

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<v Speaker 1>forty million metric tons of greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere.

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<v Speaker 1>And that's that's that's significant. Yeah, that is that is

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<v Speaker 1>fairly significant. UM. One of the ways one of the

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<v Speaker 1>kinds of machines that use an awful lot of electricity,

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<v Speaker 1>and a lot of machines aren't energy Star certified. Our computers,

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<v Speaker 1>computer monitors, yes, computer monitors, depending on the monitor. A

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<v Speaker 1>lot of the CRT s, the old style big tube monitors, those, um,

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<v Speaker 1>those you use up a lot more electricity in general

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<v Speaker 1>than you are flat panels. UM. But you know, we

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<v Speaker 1>looked at several of the different machines out there, um,

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<v Speaker 1>and there are some that are are starting to come down. Like, um,

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<v Speaker 1>there's a new uh, a new computer offered by Cranberry

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<v Speaker 1>that only uses nine wants of electricity And a story

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<v Speaker 1>that has been in the news and set lately about

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<v Speaker 1>the Cherry Poal, which is a kind of cloud computer

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<v Speaker 1>very similar to the Cranberry and it only uses two

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<v Speaker 1>wats of electricity. Right, it really cuts down the moving parts,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, things like they get rid of things like

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<v Speaker 1>the fan UH and hard drives, the spinning hard drives

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<v Speaker 1>and that really helps cut down on power consumption. Uh.

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<v Speaker 1>And of course we there are other things that we

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<v Speaker 1>can talk about when we're talking about energy efficiency. We

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<v Speaker 1>can talk about handheld devices and alternative means of powering them,

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<v Speaker 1>like solar panels. For example. You could have a solar

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<v Speaker 1>powered energy source to charge your iPod for example. True.

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<v Speaker 1>And there's another example that we used, the Nokia Eco Sensor,

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<v Speaker 1>which is a UM sort of prototype, I guess, And

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<v Speaker 1>it uses a combination solar panel that you can wear

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<v Speaker 1>on your wrist, but it's combined with a kinetic energy generator.

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<v Speaker 1>So if you're, you know, waving your arms wildly like

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<v Speaker 1>I am right now, UM, you can charge up your

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<v Speaker 1>pd A as you are are gesticulating while they are

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<v Speaker 1>making your friends wonder if you're insane. You go, no,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm just charging my p A right. In a related story,

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<v Speaker 1>I read a great in The Independent, as a newspaper

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<v Speaker 1>in the United Kingdom, written by Adrian so about she

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<v Speaker 1>She proposed a certain kind of energy generating piece of clothing.

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<v Speaker 1>We're talking about a They call it the bionic bra. Uh.

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<v Speaker 1>It's a bra that would harness the power of moving

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<v Speaker 1>breasts to generate electricity um, which is a brilliant although

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<v Speaker 1>as NPRS wait wait, don't tell me pointed out, that

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<v Speaker 1>might mean that guys start referring to women by how

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<v Speaker 1>long a song they'd be able to play. So if

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<v Speaker 1>it powers down completely, do you get memory loss? Ha

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<v Speaker 1>ha ha ha um. But to be serious, she was.

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<v Speaker 1>She was asking actual engineers about the the feasibility of this,

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<v Speaker 1>and some of them surprisingly said it's completely feasible. Uh.

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<v Speaker 1>There was an engineer named Wong at Georgia Tech, which

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<v Speaker 1>is just down the road from us, who his team's

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<v Speaker 1>working on creating fabric made out of nano wires that

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<v Speaker 1>can transform friction into electricity, so the more you move around,

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<v Speaker 1>the more electricity you would generate. And he was thinking

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<v Speaker 1>of using it in things like T shirts and stuff

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<v Speaker 1>like that, you know, things that things that you would

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<v Speaker 1>wear that you would you know, just have a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of movement in general. And he said, bras are are

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<v Speaker 1>a legitimate use for this technology. So we may actually

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<v Speaker 1>see a broad generating electricity soon or not see it.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean it would probably be under clothes, so we

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<v Speaker 1>probably wouldn't actually anyway, you know what I mean. I

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<v Speaker 1>feel like i've stumbled into some kind of booby trap. Yes,

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<v Speaker 1>I would say, so, really it looks like, rather than

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<v Speaker 1>you know, just looking at ways to cut down on

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<v Speaker 1>the amount of electricity they use manufacturers, you're also looking

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<v Speaker 1>into alternative ways to power that. So maybe through the

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<v Speaker 1>combination of these things, we can reduce the load of

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<v Speaker 1>electricity that we're using from from generating fossil fuels and

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<v Speaker 1>are not generating fossil fuels. Generating electricity from fossil fuels.

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<v Speaker 1>Right in the United States generates more than its electricity

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<v Speaker 1>from coal, so that would be I would be a

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<v Speaker 1>big improvement to find alternative ways of generating electricity. So

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<v Speaker 1>now you'll shift from that to watching people, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>flip and flop their way down the sidewalk as they

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<v Speaker 1>go to work and try to listen to their iPods.

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<v Speaker 1>I don't see this conversation getting any better. We might

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<v Speaker 1>want to end this now. So if you're interested in

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<v Speaker 1>reading more about that, we have a brand new article

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<v Speaker 1>called how energy efficient Electronics Work. It's available today on

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<v Speaker 1>how stuff works dot com. Thanks for listening for more

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<v Speaker 1>on this and thousands of other topics. Does it how

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<v Speaker 1>stuff works dot Com? Let us know what you think

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