Is the TV Off? No, It’s Really on Standby, Using Current

New York Times ^ | August 7, 2006 | SEWELL CHAN

[neverdem]

Throughout the record-breaking heat wave last week, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg used his pulpit to underscore the urgency of saving electricity. He repeated his advice like a mantra, urging New Yorkers to set their thermostats at 78 degrees, to keep air-conditioners on only when at home and to avoid using household appliances like washers, dryers and dishwashers during peak periods.

“If we want to keep the power going, we’re all just going to have to conserve,” Mr. Bloomberg said on Wednesday. “I’ve done it in my house. Please — I cannot stress it enough — do it in yours.”

That same afternoon, Consolidated Edison, which supplies power to New York City and most of Westchester County, recorded an all-time record use of 13,141 megawatts.

Hundreds of organizations, from Nasdaq to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, took steps to reduce consumption. The number of residents who cooperated is harder to measure.

Peter A. Bradford, a former chairman of the state’s Public Service Commission, said that appeals like Mr. Bloomberg’s, while laudable, do not result in durable reductions in consumption.

“Advocating efficiency in the long term is not the same thing as the appeal on the day of the crisis to turn down thermostats,” he said. “One requires long-term planning, budgeting and capital investment — efficiency in buildings being perhaps the clearest example. The day-of-crisis stuff is equivalent to what the coach can do once the team is on the field and falling behind. At that point your options are far more limited.”

One obvious reason for the strain on the network is that the number of energy-devouring devices continues to grow. In 1980, 14 percent of households had a microwave oven. By 1987, 66 percent did, and by 2001, the last year for which federal statistics were available, 96 percent had...

[neverdem]

[Tall_Texan]

Breaking news?

[weegee]

And an America filled with Electric Cars would help "HOW"???

[MAD-AS-HELL]

And all of you running your pot farms in your basement really need to stop cuz that takes a ton of energy and puts a burdon on the grid

[Normal4me]

Haven't you heard? Ethanol is the new rage nowadays. Just pour some canned corn in your tank and you will save the planet. ;-)

[Old Student]

My place has 5 desktop computers, a laptop, DSL modem and wired/wireless router, laser printer, 4 scanners, and three kids who need fresh laundry ALL THE FREAKING TIME!

/end rant

[ShadowDancer]

Yeah but when the power goes out, who cares?

[JennysCool]

puts a burdon on the grid

An Eric Burdon?

[Toby06]

You posting Animal, you!

[Names Ash Housewares]

Screw conservation. Build more nukes.
Demand is just going to get worse.
Meet the needs. This is the USA.
We are damned now because of letting envorinmentalist dictate energy policy and terrify our politicians into not doing what was necessary 10-20 years ago.

[MAD-AS-HELL]

Yep, him too...Burdon puts a "burden" on the grid as he obviously looks like a guy who likes his weed.

[El Sordo]

I've never understood that bit about microwave ovens.

I would think that more microwaves would be a good thing.

Power usage for a microwave to make most anything should be waaay lower than using an electric stove.

That's not even addressing the additional energy require to try and cool a home after using the stove.

[italianquaker]

The new jimma carter

[no-to-illegals]

1 million and 1 // 1 million to 1.
Those odds would look good if those were the odds being offered. Truth is never stranger than fiction, and 1 million to 1 is about as good as it gets, but remember those aren't the odds being offered, and I must remember my ed equate (sp).

[samm1148]

New York: A big black hole sucking in taxpayers' money. I'd like to see it go a day without the confiscated funds of Americans who worked to make the money.

[jdm]

"And don't forget to unplug them curling irons, boys!"

[ThinkDifferent]

Screw conservation. Build more nukes.

Ditto.

[Myrddin]

A microwave oven eats 1200 watts for the 60 seconds I'm heating something. Compare the main oven with 3,000 watt elements that runs for hours when cooking a turkey. The microwave oven makes much more sense. Both the regular oven and the microwave oven have a clock that runs 24x7 and there is no switch to turn that off.

I can't believe the TV was left off the lists of "gadgets". A TV sucks lots of power and puts out lots of heat. The "Better Homes and Gadgets" lists a VCR and no TV? How do you watch the output of the VCR?

[Alex Murphy]

Is the TV Off? No, It’s Really on Standby, Using Current

Intentional by design - government-dictated, even. If it were really off, it wouldn't keep projecting the mind-control rays.

[ElkGroveDan]

What's up with the NA on the cordless phones in 1987? Cordless phones were all the rage in the mid 80s. They probably began really taking off around 1982. Most were crap in those days (except for the AT&T brand) but people were buying them like crazy back then.