Xinhua News Agency, Taiyuan, August 23rd Question: Shutdown and continuous electricity meter quietly go – to prevent standby energy consumption from becoming “hidden waste”
Xinhua News Agency reporters Ma Xiaoyuan, Li Ziwei, Ma Xiaojie
Many people don’t know that the electricity meter is quietly running when the electrical appliances at home are not in use. This phenomenon is the standby energy consumption. The reporter recently interviewed and found that the waste of standby energy consumption in my country is relatively common, and the public’s understanding of this waste is seriously insufficient. It is necessary to prevent standby energy consumption from becoming a “hidden waste”.
Leaving home for ten kWh in January, the waste of standby energy consumption needs to be paid attention to
Mr. Li’s work requires year-round business trips. Not long ago, he found that even if no one at home and all electrical appliances were turned off, he would still use about ten kilowatt-hours of electricity every month. It turned out that it was the central air conditioner at home that was doing “mischief”. Although Mr. Li would turn off the air conditioner every time he went out, the central air conditioner that was on standby would still generate a lot of standby energy.
The power consumption caused by no running use but still connected to the power supply is called standby power consumption. Different from the effective energy consumption of electrical appliances in use, standby energy consumption is basically a waste of energy, and it is often a “hidden waste” that is not easy to find.
The reporter randomly visited more than ten households and found that the waste of standby energy consumption is more common. Except for one or two elderly families, most of the TVs and set-top boxes are only turned off by the remote control, without turning off the switch or cutting off the power supply; common household appliances such as air conditioners, range hoods, and washing machines are powered on and on standby all year round. The reporter also found that electric water heaters and small kitchen treasures in more than half of the households are running 24 hours a day, and they will not be turned off even when people are not at home.
Yang Jiawei, account manager of Taiyuan Power Supply Company of State Grid Shanxi Electric Power Company, told reporters that, according to his observations, many families do not notice the power consumption in standby state. “For example, air conditioners are rarely used in most households in the north except in summer, but few people pull out the plugs. Some people don’t know that it will consume electricity, and some people know it, but they don’t care.”
During the interview, the reporter asked about their understanding of their own standby energy consumption, and most users said they were “not very sure”, “should not be much” or “never paid attention to it”.
The picture shows the account manager of Taiyuan Power Supply Company of State Grid Shanxi Electric Power Company checking the electricity meter for users.Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Ma Xiaoyuan
Standby energy consumption accumulates and the total amount is huge
Respondents pointed out that standby energy consumption is difficult to detect because it is a waste that “adds up to more”. Yang Jiawei told reporters that taking a router with a standby power of 12W as an example, if the daily standby time is 15 hours, then the standby energy consumption of a router for a day is 0.18 kWh, which does not seem to be much, but after a year, It consumes 65.7 kWh of electricity. “After two or three years of standby power consumption, it is enough to buy another router.”
In order to estimate the total amount of standby energy consumption, the reporter conducted multiple interviews. Wang Fei, director of the Haier Air Industry Performance Research Institute, said that his team has calculated the standby energy consumption of common household appliances, and calculated five types of appliances such as air conditioners, washing machines, TVs, microwave ovens and rice cookers in a family. The standby power is 12W. To 15W, the standby energy consumption is about 3 to 5 days per kilowatt-hour, that is, 0.2 to 0.33 kilowatt-hours per day.
Zhang Min, a senior engineer at the Electric Power Research Institute of the State Grid Shanxi Electric Power Company, made a simple calculation for the reporter. Including 12 kinds of electrical appliances such as televisions, set-top boxes, and routers that are common in urban households, the daily standby energy consumption of a household is about 0.86 kWh. If the electric water heaters and small kitchen treasures that have been running but not used are added, the daily wasted energy consumption of a family can reach 1.52 kWh.
The reporter also invited a number of power account managers who have been serving households for many years to make estimates. The feedback results show that the daily standby energy consumption of each household is between 0.3 kWh and 1 kWh.
On the whole, even if the daily standby energy consumption of each household is calculated at 0.2 kWh, a city with a population of 5 million (calculated by 1.9 million households) has an annual standby energy consumption of nearly 139 million kWh.
The picture shows that some electrical appliances are not in use, but the power is not cut off.Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Ma Xiaoyuan
It is urgent to curb unnecessary waste of standby energy consumption
Experts interviewed pointed out that in the current situation of tight electricity supply and demand, it is realistic and urgent to curb the waste of standby energy consumption. Reducing unnecessary waste of standby energy consumption can reduce coal consumption and carbon emissions, as well as reduce the base load and relieve the load pressure during peak electricity consumption.
“The electricity cost caused by standby energy consumption is not large and is easily ignored by users.” Zhang Min said, but the waste of standby energy consumption that is meaningless, unnecessary and does not generate value must be resolutely curbed.
Han Xiaoqing, a professor at the School of Electrical and Power Engineering of Taiyuan University of Technology, suggested that the research and development, application and promotion of related energy-saving technologies should be increased. “Technological innovation is an important way to effectively reduce standby power consumption. Scientific research institutes and enterprises should be encouraged to develop more low standby power consumption technologies, and the application and promotion of related technologies should be promoted.”
Wang Fei said that my country’s energy efficiency labeling system has played a positive role in promoting enterprises to reduce the standby energy consumption of products, but various new electrical products are emerging one after another. Timely inclusion of national mandatory access standards to guide its energy-saving development.
Zhang Zhaoming, deputy chief engineer of the Living Appliance Testing Center of China Household Electrical Appliances Research Institute, said that for the energy-saving indicators promoted by enterprises, while the market supervision department increases supervision and spot checks, it can also give full play to the role of third-party testing agencies. Objective evaluation of indicators such as energy efficiency and energy saving plays a role in supervision and incentives.
A number of interviewees also suggested that the public should further strengthen their energy-saving knowledge and awareness, and at the same time create conditions for cultivating energy-saving habits and guide the public to develop an energy-saving lifestyle.
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