Washington: For some time now, energy efficiency experts have had their eyes on a problem that has been dubbed the “miscellaneous electrical load”, or MEL – the growing percentage of home electricity consumed by objects that are not heating or cooling systems, large appliances, or lighting.
Rather, they’re an odd assortment of electronics and other miscellany – ranging from aquariums to sprinkler systems.
Many of these objects are never fully turned “off,” and thus consume power all the time. According to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a “typical American home has 40 products constantly drawing power”.
Now, California is taking a major swing at one group of devices often included in the MEL category. Late last week, the California Energy Commission (CEC) released a set of draft standards that, if adopted, would considerably increase the energy efficiency of computers and accompanying monitors.
“Policymakers have recently become aware of the importance of miscellaneous electrical loads in buildings and of the inadequacy of current policies to reduce them,” said Alan Meier, a senior scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory who studies MEL. “California’s actions are a step in the right direction.”
The rule goes far beyond mysterious home energy uses. Desktop computers are particularly prevalent in offices and commercial settings. The most significant changes in the standards would be to these desktops, and in particular, to the amount of power that they guzzle when they’re idle – “when the computer is on but not being used”, the commission wrote.
“Idle modes are the largest opportunity to reduce energy consumption because computers spend roughly half of their time in this ‘on mode’,” noted the CEC.
The commission wants to slash by half how much power desktop computers use in their idle modes, for computers made starting in 2018.
California’s move could reverberate in the computer industry, given the size of its population and market and also the presence of key parts of the tech community within the state.
According to the CEC, computers, monitors, and sign displays consume 5 percent of the state’s overall electricity – and even more in some commercial buildings and offices, where the total can rise to more than 10 percent.
The benefits of savings will be fairly large – the commission projects cuts to electricity bills of $340 million (R4.2 billion) from the regulations on computers alone.
The bulk of that would come from significantly reducing power use of desktop computers.
Washington Post