CES 2009 - Phantom Load

The amount of energy used by products when they are in standby mode is significant. The average U.S. household spends $100 per year to power devices while they are off (or in standby mode). On a national basis, standby power accounts for more than 100 billion kilowatt hours of annual U.S. electricity consumption and more than $10 billion in annual energy costs.
- www.energystar.gov

Electronics companies are slowly learning some innovative ways to fight phantom load without sacrificing product quality. A more informed customer base is pushing these changes. Here are a few notes from CES 2009:

Bravia Eco HDTV: They brought back a switch on the side of TV that will turn off the main power supply so it will have “zero power consumption in standby mode.” This is the same as using our tried-and-true power strip method, but they have made it more convenient.

HP Monster GreenPower: At first glance you should be concerned with any product with the word “green” in the title. Beware Green Washing. GreenPower is a feature on one of the HP Monster PowerCenters (fancy words for surge protector). It has two types of plugs. One is for the computer, and the others are for everything else. Once the computer is turned off, the PowerCenter cuts supply to the rest of the gadgets.

On the OLED front… Universal Display Corporation developed a flexible OLED prototype wristband display (pictured w/o wristband below) with support from the US Department of Defense. The fact that it is flexible, durable, produces a crisp picture, and runs on little electricity gives this technology so many possible applications. – Hat tip to Engadget