Connected devices responsible for billions in wasted energy
Fri 4 Jul 2014
A new study released by the International Energy Agency has revealed the alarming rate of energy wasted by the world’s growing digital economy.
The research found that of the 616 terawatt hours of electricity consumed by connected devices in 2013, two thirds of it were down to inefficient models with poor electricity conservation when placed on ‘standby’.
In terms of cost, the biggest culprits, including modems, printers and games consoles, waste around $80bn annually – a figure expected to reach $120bn by 2020.
As Brittany Hillen suggests in her SlashGear article, this situation needs to be reversed by the introduction of more energy-efficient technologies before we witness a worsening of energy waste that could match the concerning estimates.
