TV DVR units said to waste $2 billion in electricity each year

DVR set-top boxes, even when not recording "The Vampire Diaries," suck out the same amount of energy annually as is produced by nine coal-burning power plants, according to a new report.

About 160 million digital video recorders and cable and other pay-TV boxes in the U.S. eat up 27 terawatt-hours of electricity a year and cost consumers about $3 billion, according to researchers from the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Inactive boxes that aren’t recording or playing back shows account for about $2 billion of that cost, the study found. Hitting the off button only dims the box’s clock or display, leaving it to continue consuming nearly the same amount of power.

With some form of pay-TV box in 80% of U.S. homes, the technology eats up as much electricity each year as all the homes in Maryland, researchers said. Newer HD-DVR boxes use 275 kilowatt-hours annually, compared with the 17 kilowatt-hours required by a compact fluorescent light bulb. Each box uses more energy than an average new flat-screen television.

In Europe, variations on the technology have emerged that can shift into low power mode when not in use. But until the boxes show up in the U.S., researchers suggest consumers look into alternatives rated Energy Star 4.0 or higher.

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-- Tiffany Hsu

PHOTO: Bob Poniatowski, TiVo product marketer, demonstrates new uses of TiVo connected with a new DVR recorder at TiVo's offices in Alviso, Calif. Credit: Eric Risberg/Associated Press

Comments

[BJ Malone]

Hands off my DVR! In other words you would have to pry it from my cold dead hands!

[CK]

My DVR is gas powered so no electricity wasted here.

[pwb in DC]

This article offers fun facts.
....But also how much energy is "saved" since these folks stay home and watch their DVR's?. instead of going out to a movie?, going out and renting a DVD?, etc, etc.
Make'm more efficient - An EnergyStar DVR anyone?
Cheers,

[Morgana]

We live in rural Georgia and our electric bill in January (when we do not use heat or ac) is $100-$150. This means we wear sweaters and sleep with several blankets. In the summer when the rates go up our bill is $300 or more. Everything is unplugged (lamps, microwave, toaster) and lights are turned off when exiting a room. My sister doesn't use her dryer she hangs her clothes outdoors in winter and summer. Her winter bill averages $105 per month and in the summer she keeps her house...well hot inside. I would too if my husband didn't complain. As it is the blinds are down and curtains are closed leaving us in the dark! So no I'm not happy about the dvr using all that electricity! It's my money and I'd rather not pay the electric company executives trip to France this summer!

[Steve]

Not my DVR. I have it hooked up to a solar panel and when it's not sunny I switch over to my windmill . If it's cloudy and there is no wind I turn on the radio.

[andytek1]

Before I discontinued satellite service, my Dish HD DVR used 50-55 watts. Calculating 50W x24 hours x30 days at a top marginal electric rate (about $.26 per KWh at the 100-200% of baseline) yields about $9 per month. I did put ours on a timer for the late nights/mornings we are not watching.

Now I am sure this is a little harsh on the equipment so I wouldn't do it if I owned the equipment but Dish TV has incentivized this sort of thing with a combination of inefficient engineering and non-ownership of equipment.

[T. Snyder]

News flash: It's not 'wasting' electricity if it's being used for a purpose. What is it for if not for powering technology?

[chris stand]

We put Belkin digital timers on our cable box & lcd tv. Completely power them off at night & during the day when we are asleep or at work.
Not perfect but goes a decent way towards dropping power use of existing technology today.

[Kellie]

Who is drinking this Kool-Aid? Not ME!! It is MY money and my equipment! These Dopes need to go man-up and do something really worthwhile with their time! How about saving kids from the mindless crap they must endure on the stupid commercials that go on forever! This baloney comes from the same Kool-Aid drinkers that believe that we MUST recycle! Try reading "The 8 Great Myths about Waste Disposal"
http://www.perc.org/articles/article224.php
If I don't like it I can flip the switch on my wall and turn off the outlet! Duh.
People have too much time on their hands!!
ps Too many of us are raised by overly protective mothers. Wusey men acting like fretting women!! Give me John Wayne!!

[Rob]

God I hate cable boxes. I got rid of cable in my home. They eat power even when they are off, and they get HOT. It wasn't until electricity started running through a fault coax cable that I decided to get rid of it for good. Sparks were flying! MY home could've been burned down! I watch internet T.V. now. Thanks for NOTHING comcast.

[Tim]

@Yogi - Storing video requires a lot more memory than pictures or audio. Sure, your iPad can store some video, but storing hours would require a lot of expensive memory.

Brownouts, air pollution, energy price increases effect us all. It's easy to say 'I make my choices and pay my power bill, what business is it of anybody else how much power my DVR uses', but that emotional response is not very intelligent as it ignores the issues that do effect us all.

The numbers in this article imply these devices consume 20 watts when they are off. That is ridiculous, more than having a 100W equivalent CFL on all the time, 24 hours a day. I would guess the devices need a little power to run timers and the remote control receiver even when off, but 20 watts? The point of this article would seem to be to put pressure on manufacturers to make them consume less power, especially when they are off, which should not be very difficult or expensive.

[Richard Barnes]

God, what crap! How can a DVR be a "Waste" of energy, if you use your electricity only for the things you find important, like time-shifting your TV viewing? Gosh, we have to resist this kind of an attempt to turn us all into a "Big Brother" style, Totalitarian Nanny-State.

[Ed Barbar]

The essential problem is that the US does not have a good plan for increasing energy production. Maryland has 5.6 million people. The US is adding about 2.1 million people a year in population. The real answer is to develop nuclear power plants to service the electric needs of people.

[Randy]

As someone who works for an electric utility and is greatly aware of the power draw of various appliances and equipment....SirVipe is full of it.

[bblackh1]

That DVR is like a computer that never gets turned off. What
I have started to do is unplug all the DVRs/Cable Boxes from
power (that are not set to tape every episode of Law and Order)
when TV is not being watched. This saves 500W of power being
consistently drained and using up valuable resources. (Some
people are "installing all those crazy light bulbs, but the 5 DVRs
they have in the house are using more power than all the lightbulbs
in the entire neighborhood.) Yes, it is true that "GUIDE" has to
take 5 minutes to reload, but the benefits far outweigh the negatives.
There is no reason to waste power.

[Carl]

The real problem here is lack of motivation on the part of the DVR provider. You see there is not really an incentive for those who design the DVR's to make them more energy efficient since they do not pay the power bill. I'm sure that the DVR's could be made a lot more energy efficient. I bet the total could be dropped by as much as 80% with a better design.

For an individual it's not all that much of an expense. It's only when you add up all the millions of units in the country that the issue becomes apparent.

There is talk about carbon taxes or a carbon credit system for those who produce electricity. How about something similar for those who produce items that use the electricity? I hate the idea of taxes and new bureaucracy as much as anyone, but how else can we prod those who build products like DVR's to make more energy efficient models.

[Andrew]

I think you all missed the point of the story. 9 coal fired plants create lot of pollution or how about we build more nuclear plants (real safe ha) or wind farms that kill birds or more high voltage power lines in your backyard (you all sound like NIMBYS anyway) or brownouts. When power is wasted on something that isn't doing a useful job it's just plain stupid and will cost a lot more that a few cents.

[Yogi]

My Cox Cable box runs all of the time and gets so hot in the summer that the fans are running at full speed most of the time, and that is when it is "off". Why can't this use RAM memory instead of a hard drive like my iPad? I had to cut holes in the back of the cabinet just for the DVR to let heat escape and that is while leaving the sliding front glass open. It is a space heater for sure. I have this nice cabinet with heavily smoked glass to hide the electronics, but I have to leave it open just because of the DVR.

I am very unhappy with the waste and noise of my DVR.

[jsa26]

After reading this I searched for estimates of Tivo power consumption rates and it's 30-35 watts for the newer HD models or about $0.12/day or $42/year at DWP rates. A small percentage of our bill that allows us to watch shows that come on in the middle of the night. Considering gas, tickets and exorbitantly priced popcorn a year of Tivo electricity is less than one trip to the movie theater.

I agree with SirVipe, sure seems like nit picking when there are much more serious issues to be addressed.

[DesertRat]

It's the money I earn to pay my electric bill, and I think I'm smart enough to spend it where I want to. Waste electricity? For me, it's not a waste. When it starts becoming a waste to me, I'll unplug the damn thing.

Common sense is dieing with an awful sound in this country. Check out the story about banishing chocolate and strawberry-flavored milk from LAUSD. Nothing but fluff to make do-gooders with no common sense or street smarts feel good. Bah!

[howard]

@ SirVipe: It's a shame you don't feel like we're all in this together. What's that saying--you're either part of the solution or part of the problem?

[Joe Thorpe]

Can you spell T-I-M-E-R ? I put my DVR on an outdoor timer long ago, and my cable company hates me for it, but their having to do manual reboots for it now and then just gives them a reason to yell at Motorola to do it right next time.

I will never willingly buy a Motorola product for the rest of my life, however.

[SirVipe]

I just love these useless fluff pieces. Just like when they told everyone the biggest cause of water waste is people running the water while brushing their teeth. Really? How about the flooding of rice paddies on the Grapevine then shipping that rice overseas, or flooding it just because they have to or they don't get their quota for the next year. Much energy is wasted on many, many things. Lights on all night in shops and malls, the insanely bright street lights, stop lights that run 24/7 EVERYWHERE, manufacturing, etc.

It's amazing to me that the onus is always on the consumer and never on corporate or companies. Go after the DVR makers, why make us feel guilty? The consumer is a smidgeon compared to industrial use. I pay about $60/mo. in electricity, for everything I use, computers, lights, 60" plasma, DVR, AMP, XBOX, fountain, etc... that's hardly a dent in the system on my part.

Go after big business and leave us people, who are already strained to the hilt, alone.