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Facts About Phantom Power

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"Nationally, phantom loads make up about six percent of our energy consumption."

Many computer peripherals, (printers, scanners, modems, monitors, speakers), continue to use energy, even after they are turned them off. This energy 'leak' occur because many electronic devices can't be fully turned off without pulling the wall plug. "While the button may be turned off, in reality, the device may be in any of several standby modes, somewhere between fully off and fully on, wired so that its prongs draw electric current from the wall outlet 24/7" (Woods, 2005).

A mid-sized company wastes more than $165,000 a year in electricity costs for computers that have been left on overnight. By turning these computers off, an employer can keep more than 1,381 tons of carbon dioxide (C02) out of the atmosphere. Across the nation, this adds up to more than $1.72 billion dollars and almost 15 million tons of CO2. Few problems match an impact so large with a solution so simple.

At 8.68 cents per kWh, a typical PC left on overnight wastes $55.13 a year. That's more than $165,000 for a 10,000-PC enterprise that leaves 60 percent of its machines on, and $1.72 billion for the 60 percent of work computers that may be running across the country each night unnecessarily.
Turning off PCs, with their heat-intensive power supplies, will also reduce the load on air conditioning equipment, leading to even more energy savings.

To be sure, some standby power is necessary or useful. It keeps TVs, VCRs, DVD players and other devices such as security alarms on alert and ready to receive signals from remote control units, for instance.

Most standby power, however, is a waste, consuming energy for no good reason, Meier said. President Bush highlighted the issue four years ago when he issued an executive order accelerating domestic efforts to cut standby power.

The exact waste from standby power is unclear due to the lack of studies conducted; however, Alan Meier, an energy analyst who helped raise awareness about the problem while at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, estimates that residential consumers in the United States spend more than $5 billion annually on standby power -- about 5 percent of all electricity consumed in the country (Woods, 2005).

Whether internal or external, the typical power supply unit is very inefficient and wastes 30 percent to 50 percent of the electricity flowing through it, according to U.S. Department of Energy. Scientific reports actually have used the term "leaking electricity" to describe the waste -- electric current doesn't actually leak.

The Christchurch Press (09/2001)
The consumption from these hidden phantom loads in the United States is said to equal the electricity use of Greece, Peru, and Vietnam combined. When an appliance is not in use, switch it off at the wall.

Wall Street Journal (07/2007)
A recent report estimated that American businesses could save $1.72 billion each year merely by getting more employees to shut off their computers at night.

Tufts University Study
Summary Statements
If all students at Tufts University turned off their computer at night (at least 6 hours), we could prevent 572 tons of CO2 from heating the atmosphere each year and it would save over $87,000 in electricity costs!

One computer left on 24 hours a day will cost you $115 in electricity bills a year and dump 1500 pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere.

U.C. Berkley SSEC (11/2005)
Nationally, phantom loads make up about six percent of our energy consumption. This translates into billions of dollars spent and countless amounts of pollution emitted into our air. Obviously, phantom loads are a huge problem, especially as energy costs rise and our fossil fuel reserves near depletion.

Source: U.C. Berkley link

Other Factors to Consider:

Wearout: While leaving the PC on all the time reduces thermal stress and hence prolongs system life, it also causes components to wear out more quickly. This is more of a factor for some components than others--especially monitors.

Cooling: It is important to remember that some office buildings run with automated thermostats that turn off the air conditioning at night; if it's 95 during the day and 80 at night, the PC will be quite warm in the morning when the power comes on. In this case you may be risking the system overheating by leaving it running at night.

Also leaving computer systems on all night adds more heat to the room requiring air condition units to work harder then they would need to if all computers and peripherals were turned off.

Risk of Power Interruption: Leaving your PC on for long periods of time exposes it to the potential risk of power spikes and surges, brownouts, blackouts and other problems. If you are using a good-quality UPS then this is not really a factor, although remember that unless your UPS supports power-down signaling to shut down the machine, a one-hour blackout will result in about the same abrupt shut-off of your machine, just a few minutes later than it would without a UPS. If you are not using a UPS, and you are in an area prone to power problems, leaving the machine on all the time may be unwise (you should be using a good power conditioning device if this is the case, anyway).