UC Davis

Leaving appliances and other devices in “standby power” mode is a significant source of continual electricity consumption in homes and workplaces. Over the years, a combination of policies and technologies has successfully reduced the amount of power used by devices and appliances when in standby power mode, but these energy savings have been offset by an increase in the number of products drawing standby power and new power requirements for maintaining network connections. Current technologies and policies to reduce energy use during standby have limitations and may not be appropriate for emerging trends in devices such as mobile products, networking, and direct DC power. This work proposes a new strategy to measure and further reduce standby energy consumption, the “Standzero” option, which encourages electrical products to be designed to operate for short periods without relying on grid-supplied electricity. Lower energy consumption is achieved through enhanced efficiency and by harvesting ambient energy. A sensitivity analysis indicates that many electrical devices could be designed to operate for at least an hour without relying on grid power and, in some cases, may be able to operate indefinitely at 0 W until activated.