Zhenyuan

The electrical appliances at home are not used, but the electricity meter is quietly leaving. Many people do not know that this phenomenon is standby energy consumption. The reporter recently found that the waste of standby energy consumption is quite common in China, but the public's awareness of this waste is seriously insufficient, so it is necessary to prevent standby energy consumption from becoming a "hidden waste".
Ten kilowatt hours away from home in a month
Attention should be paid to the waste of standby energy consumption
Mr. Li's job requires business trips all the year round. Not long ago, he found that even if there was no one at home and all the electrical appliances were shut down, he would walk about 10 kilowatt hours of electricity every month. Several inspections failed to find the reason, so he contacted the power department for on-site inspection. It turns out that the central air conditioner at home is "making mistakes". Although Mr. Li turns off the air conditioner every time he goes out, the central air conditioner that is powered on for standby will still generate considerable standby energy consumption.
The power consumption caused by not running but still connected to the power supply is called standby energy consumption. Different from the effective energy consumption generated in the use of electrical appliances, standby energy consumption is basically a waste of energy, and is often a "hidden waste" that is not easy to be found.
The reporter visited more than ten families randomly and found that the waste of standby energy consumption is common. Except for one or two elderly families, TV sets and set-top boxes in most families are only turned off by remote control, and the switch is not turned off or the power is cut off; Air conditioners, range hoods, washing machines and other commonly used household appliances are all powered on and standby throughout the year. The reporter also found that more than half of the household electric water heaters and kitchens operate 24 hours a day, and they will not be turned off even when people are not at home.
Yang Jiawei, customer manager of Taiyuan Power Supply Company of State Grid Shanxi Electric Power Company, told reporters that according to his observation, many families would not notice the power consumption in standby mode. "For example, most families in the north rarely use air conditioners except in summer, but few people unplug them. Some people do not know that they will consume electricity, while others do, but they do not care."
Standby energy consumption adds up
Huge amount
The interviewee pointed out that it is difficult to detect the standby energy consumption because it is a waste of "a little makes a mickle".
In order to estimate the total standby energy consumption, the reporter conducted various interviews. Wang Fei, the director of Haier Air Industry Performance Research Institute, said that his team had calculated the standby energy consumption of common household appliances, including air conditioners, washing machines, televisions, microwave ovens and rice cookers. The standby power was between 12W and 15W, and the standby energy consumption was about one kilowatt hour per day for 3-5 days, that is, 0.2 to 0.33 kilowatt hours per day.
Zhang Min, senior engineer of Electric Power Research Institute of State Grid Shanxi Electric Power Company, made a simple calculation for the reporter. Taking into account 12 kinds of electrical appliances, such as TV sets, set-top boxes and routers, which are common in urban households, the daily standby energy consumption of a household is about 0.86 kilowatt hours. If the electric water heater and kitchenware that have been running but not used are added, the daily energy consumption wasted by a family can reach 1.52 kilowatt hours.
To sum up, even if the daily standby energy consumption of each household is 0.2 kilowatt hours, the annual standby energy consumption of a city with a population of 5 million (1.9 million households) is nearly 139 million kilowatt hours.
Urgently curb unnecessary standby energy consumption waste
Experts interviewed pointed out that under the current situation of tight power supply and demand, it is realistic and urgent to curb the waste of standby energy consumption. Reducing unnecessary standby energy consumption can reduce coal consumption, reduce carbon emissions, reduce basic load and relieve load pressure during peak power consumption.
Han Xiaoqing, a professor in the School of Electrical and Power Engineering of Taiyuan University of Technology, suggested to increase the research, development, application and promotion of relevant energy-saving technologies. "Technological innovation is an important way to effectively reduce standby power consumption. Scientific research institutes and enterprises should be encouraged to develop more low standby power consumption technologies and promote the application and promotion of related technologies."
Many interviewees also suggested that people should further strengthen their knowledge and awareness of energy conservation, create conditions for developing energy-saving habits, and guide people to develop energy-saving lifestyles.