Many of us shed a tear or two when we check our cable bill, but you will be weeping uncontrollably when you find out they are one of the biggest users of power as well.
The humble cable set-top box use more electricity than any other appliance, apart from air conditioners, so says a report in The Los Angeles Times . It seems that the reason they suck up so much power is due to never being turned off. When a box is left in standby mode it consumes almost as much electricity as when switched on.
The report says that, “A set-top cable box with a digital recorder can consume as much as 35 watts of power, costing about $8 a month for a typical Southern California consumer. The devices use nearly as much power turned off as they do when they are turned on.”
Cable companies are also constantly updating the software and program guides 24 hours a day, so even when you think that box is off, it’s on. The only real way to save on power is to unplug the device, but that causes it’s own problems because of long reboot times. Speaking to the paper, California Energy Commission member, Andrew McAllister said, “It is a classic case of market failure. The consumers have zero information and zero control over the devices they get.”
So you can switch off your cable box and save a small amount of power, or ditch it entirely and cut the cord thereby saving a ton of cash.
