Standby consumption in private homes

The paper will sum up the findings from a standby project carried out in Denmark over a period of 2 years involving 30 households. The purpose of the project is to verify to what extent standby losses in household consumption could be affected by direct communication and by use of technical equipment to reduce the standby losses. The analysis will include studies on how socio-economic status and life style is affecting the standby consumption.

In Denmark standby losses are estimated to be approximately 970 GWh/year. One consequence of this consumption is emissions to the environment by approximately 821 million tons of CO2. It is estimated that 1% of the global CO2-emmision including transport, industry, agriculture and garbage is related to standby loss. Increased use of electronic household devices will also increase standby losses. The average share of the household consumption related to standby losses has increased over the recent years, and will undoubtedly continue to increase over the forthcoming years. However, for a single device (TV, video ect.) the standby losses and the savings potential are small. Earlier campaigns have all focused on changing behaviour of the customers. This new Danish project focuses on standby losses in a group of households over a period of time of 12 months. The group, containing of 30 households with 2 adults and 2 children each, has received advise and information on how to change behaviour in order to reduce standby losses. Furthermore the group has been equipped with technical installations as another means to reduce losses. This equipment (save-plugs and newly developed equipment) will be presented as a part of the presentation.

Energy consumption due to standby losses in the 30 households has been measured (on each of their consumer electronic equipment), and analysed continuously and has been presented at a website where the households can follow their own consumption. From these measurements the paper will also include descriptions and analysis of the consumer behaviour related to the appliances and devices.
 

Download full report here