The power of turning things off

The latest edition of Red Herring (30th April 2007) reports that Comverge, an electrical grid management company, has raised $95.4m in the first public offering of its type. It's energy-monitoring technology is designed to assist utilities and consumers in utilizing energy smarter and more efficiently. The energy they save they call 'negawatts' and they consider it as important as wattage produced during periods when demand outstrips energy supply. Comverge CEO Robert Chiste told Red Herring that he thinks that this sector, previously seen as unsexy, is now coming to life.

I recently heard, unfortunately I can't remember where, that about 10% of all energy used in the home is for appliances on standby. The story goes that the clock on the microwave will consume more power in its lifetime than will be used in actually heating things. It strikes me that legislation needs to be put in place to force manufacturers to design their products to avoid this waste. I would prefer a market solution but I don't think that consumers are well informed enough to force the change. For example, I only found out that my TV used a lot of power whilst in standby when the coils burnt out and I had to pay for new coils - the repairman set me straight on turning things off!

Whilst this isn't going to save the world on its own, I think it's a really good example of a change of behaviour that not only helps the planet but also saves us all money. And I think that the world is only going to be saved by the aggregation of a lot of these energy saving culture changes working in tandem with new technologies.