Online gadgets responsible for $80bn of energy wastage
The world’s 14bn online electronic devices are wasting around $80bn (£47bn) in energy each year due to inefficient technology, according to a report from the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Excessive energy use from the devices, such as set-top boxes, modems, printers and game consoles, could significantly increase in the coming years if measures are not taken to improve their energy efficiency, says the report More data, less energy: Making network standby more efficient in billions of connected devices.
Projections indicate that 50bn network-enabled devices will be deployed globally by 2020. To avoid a scenario where these devices waste around $120bn in energy costs by 2020, relatively simple measures can be implemented to improve their energy efficiency, says the IEA – saving both energy and money.
Rather than data centre energy use, which is well documented, the figures come from simply looking at the growing number of devices that are ‘always online’ in the world’s increasingly digital economy. Network connectivity is spreading via the so-called ‘internet of things’ to devices and appliances that were previously not connected, such as washing machines and refrigerators, and these machines are becoming more energy hungry through their requirement to stay online.
‘The proliferation of connected devices brings many benefits to the world, but right now the cost is far higher than it should be,’ said IEA Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven. ‘Consumers are losing money in the form of wasted energy, which is leading to more costly power stations and more distribution infrastructure being built than we would otherwise need.’
The problem is a result of inefficient ‘network standby’ modes in many devices. Householders may think that ‘standby’ indicates a device has gone to sleep, but most network-enabled devices use as much power in this mode than as when completely active. Current network communication protocols require that devices remain on to wait for incoming network signals, and as a result energy consumption is detached from the relative communication work that the devices perform.
The report finds that in 2013 the world’s networked devices consumed around 616 TWh of electricity, the majority of which was used in standby mode. Around 400 TWh of the total – equivalent to the electricity consumed annually by the UK and Norway combined – was wasted because of inefficient technology, says the IEA.
To solve the problem, the report details technologies available today that would enable the same tasks to be carried out in standby while consuming 65% less power – such as scaling power demand to activity levels and maintaining connectivity with low power consumption. Utilising these technologies could have resulted in around 400 TWh of energy saving in 2013 – equivalent to 133 power stations, each of 500 MW.
The report also calls for policymakers to implement an international initiative to reduce demand and enhance standards to curb device energy wastage.
News Item details
Journal title: Energy World
Keywords: Energy consumption - Energy use in homes
Countries: Worldwide -
Organisation: International Energy Agency
Subjects: Energy efficiency, Power stations
