research day not much to say day 25

I didnt have much to say today so I looked up some information on energy. Specifically I looked at standby power. I had a few main questions in mind:

-why do we need electronics on standby power?

-approximatley how much standby power is used on average?

-is this a problem

-alternative/solutions

Before looking explaning what I found, heres a some information on what a Watt is given by standbypower.lbl.gov

Watts is a measure of power (technically, Joules/second) analogous to speed (miles/hour). So you need to convert the power into energy (like speed into distance). Here's an easy conversion factor: if a device draws 1 watt constantly for a year, then its energy consumption was 9 kWh. That corresponds to about $1.00.

So, when the chart says 5 watts, that's 5 x 9 = 45 kWh/year = $5/year. You'll quickly see that almost any single device consumes very little in annual electricity use but, when multiplied by 40+ products, the sum is significant.

basically a what is the flow of energy joules/second.

Heres what I found..

Standby power is used by elerctronics for various reasons. To power an LED light, the ones that say if its on or off. Things that are waiting for a remote signal are constantly send out "are you there?" messages. Things that are powered by an external source. Some rechargeable batteries keep taking in electricity if you dont take them off the charger even though they are full.

A chart on energy usage

Here are some alternative and solutions

-most importantly, know what uses standby power and how much it is using
-unplug electronics that are used rarely, such as an alarm clock in the guest bedroom
-use a power strip for clusters of electronics. Like around a tv. This way it can be easily shut off
  Tip: its safer to use a power strip on everyday electronics, there is always the risk of electrocuting yourself while unplugging from a wall
-buy low-standby products. look for energy star endorsed products, they have low standby