Learning from Juneau's Electricity Crisis

Alan Meier, a scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, CA, Gayle Wood, AEL&P, and Charlie Food, CBJ, fielded questions yesterday on KTOO’s Juneau Afternoon – Our Electricity Crisis. Here are some tips for saving electricity in a hurry:

• Turn down the thermostat on your electric heat and electric hot water heater.
• Turn off the drier.
• Wash clothes in cold water.
• Turn out the lights in rooms you are not in.

Juneau has cut its electrical consumption nearly 20% and consumers have yet to see a bill. Dr. Meier thinks this might be an unbeatable record for rapid reduction.

Meier shed light on some nagging questions for power conservation: Is it more efficient to wash dishes by hand or in the dishwasher? Answer: A systematic comparison of hand dishwashers to mechanical dishwashers in Europe showed a huge range of energy consumption by the hand washers. In the end, the study concluded that it was more efficient to turn off the drier on the dishwasher, fill it up, and use it.

Another question: Do you use more energy turning lights off and on again than just leaving them on? Answer: It is ALWAYS better to turn a light off. No, lights don't use more energy to turn on; not even compact fluorscents.

Dr. Meier is an international expert on standby power, a major source of power consumption in homes and businesses. He recommends that you

• unplug everything that you can conveniently unplug to reduce “leakage,” sometimes called “vampire energy:” electricity that you are paying for, but power you are not using.

Dr. Meier cited studies that show a typical California home has over 40 products that are consuming power all the time even if they are switched off. Most homes have 10 to 50 of these products that add up and can represent as much as a month of an electricity bill. Unplug or reconfigure them so that they are truly off.

During a CNN conversation about standby power between Alan Meier and Assistant DOE Secretary Alexander Krasner, these culprits were brought to light:

• A washing machine uses about 2 watts in standby power to keep the electronic keypads ready to go even when it looks completely off.
• A DVD player that isn’t even playing a DVD consumes 11.32 watts with the power on; when it is turned off, it draws 6 watts.
• An electric toothbrush draws about 1.8 watts.
• A home computer, just standing by draws 65 watts.
• A microwave showing those two little dots is responsible for 3 watts.

Dr. Meier is speaking tonight 6 PM, in the commons at the Juneau-Douglas High School. The title of his talk is Saving Energy in a Hurry! His visit is sponsored by the Juneau Economic Develop Council. Dr. Meier also edits Home Energy Magazine – an excellent source of energy savings information.