Home Idle Load: Devices Wasting Huge Amounts of Electricity When Not in Active Use

Home Idle Load

Always-On But Inactive Devices May Cost Americans $19 Billion and 50 Power Plants’ Worth of Electricity Annually. There has been a veritable explosion in the number of electronics, appliances, and other equipment plugged into, or permanently connected to, America’s homes—65 devices on average in our study. Most are consuming electricity around-the-clock, even when the owners are not using them or think they have been turned off. This always-on energy use by inactive devices translates to approximately $19 billion a year—about $165 per U.S. household on average—and 50 large (500-megawatt) power plants’ worth of electricity.