Power bills soaring? Turn off the Playstation

subscribe

Don't blame the fridge for your steep power bills - an Australian consumer agency study has found that videogame consoles and plasma flat-screen TVs are major electricity guzzlers, even when left on stand-by.

The recent study by Choice said Sony Corp's Playstation 3, closely followed by Microsoft's Xbox 360 and plasma television sets, consumed the most power out of a list of 16 electronic devices tested, including laptops, stereo systems and DVD players.

"Our tests found that leaving a Playstation 3 on while not in use would cost almost... five times more than it would take to run a refrigerator for the same yearly period," said the study which was published on Choice's website.

"The plasma TV set was also a power hungry device, consuming over four times more power than a traditional analogue set. The average desktop computer was third on the list."

The report advised consumers to switch off their electronic devices at the source, rather than just from the remote control, which puts them on power-consuming stand-by mode. "This saves on money, not to mention carbon emissions," it added.

Related News

solar power construction

Coronavirus could stall a third of new U.S. utility solar this year: report

WASHINGTON - About 5 gigawatts (GW) of big U.S. solar energy projects, enough to power nearly 1 million homes, could suffer delays this year if construction is halted for months due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report published on Wednesday.

The forecast, a worst-case scenario laid out in an analysis by energy research firm Wood Mackenzie, would amount to about a third of the utility-scale solar capacity expected to be installed in the United States this year.

The report comes two weeks after the head of the top U.S. solar trade group called the coronavirus pandemic "a crisis here" for…

READ MORE
france-demonstrates-role-of-nuclear-power

France Demonstrates the Role of Nuclear Power Plants

READ MORE

blood-nickel-canada-role

Blood Nickel and Canada's Role in Global Mining Sustainability

READ MORE

charts

Four Facts about Covid and U.S. Electricity Consumption

READ MORE

canada-electricity-exports-at-risk-amid-growing-us-canada-trade-tensions

Canada's Electricity Exports at Risk Amid Growing U.S.-Canada Trade Tensions

READ MORE