The International Energy Agency (IEA) is calling on policy makers, standards development organizations, software and hardware developers, designers, service providers, manufacturers and anyone else under the sun to help reduce energy demand from the world’s online electronic devices.

According to a report by the IEA, the world is wasting somewhere in the neighborhood of $80 billion US each year because of inefficient technology. Think set-top boxes, modems, printers and game consoles – in total roughly 14 billion online devices. 

The problem is only expected to worsen, too. By 2020, IEA said, we’ll be looking at an estimated $120 billion US wasted.

High-speed Washing Machines

Titled More Data, Less Energy: Making Network Standby More Efficient in Billions of Connected Devices, the IEA report says that despite data centres receiving much of the energy conservation attention, it’s the newly connected machinery, like washing machines, refrigerators, lights and thermostats, that are cause for concern. 

“The proliferation of connected devices brings many benefits to the world, but right now the cost is far higher than it should be,” IEA Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven explained. “Consumers are losing money in the form of wasted energy, which is leading to more costly power stations and more distribution infrastructure being built than we would otherwise need – not to mention all the extra greenhouse gases that are being emitted. But it need not be this way. If we adopt best available technologies we can minimize the cost of meeting demand as the use and benefits of connected devices grows.”

Standby Mode Not All it’s Cracked up to be

According to the report, the brunt of the problem with these devices comes down to inefficient “network standby.” That’s a misnomer, IEA said. It suggests that the device has gone to sleep and is almost off, when in fact they are pulling as much power in standby as when they are fully running. 

Breaking it down, IEA said connected devices consumed roughly 616 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity, the majority of that while in standby mode. Nearly 400 TWh of that total was wasted because of inefficient technology. For perspective, IEA said that’s the equivalent of electricity consumed annually by the United Kingdom and Norway combined. 

 “The problem is not that these devices are often in standby mode, but rather that they typically use much more power than they should to maintain a connection and communicate with the network,” Van der Hoeven said. “Just by using today’s best available technology, such devices could perform exactly the same tasks in standby while consuming around 65% less power.”

If better energy efficiency measures were applied to future online devices, 600 TWh of energy would be saved, the report’s authors explain. “That’s equivalent to shutting 200 standard 500MW coal-fired power plants, which would cut emissions by 600 million metric tons of CO2.” 

Standards and Policy Changes Needed

But to reach that goal, action is needed from all stakeholders along the value chain, not to mention cooperation. For example, IEA said that policy makers can provide incentives and establish market drivers, while standard development organizations can help build the technical foundations to enable and support energy efficient software and hardware. 

“Energy efficiency policies play an important role in galvanizing action across the value chain to reduce unnecessary energy demand,” van der Hoeven said, pointing to Minimum Energy Performance Standard programs and consumer labelling, like the EnergyStar program, that have saved billions of dollars of savings “for consumers across a wide range of product categories from washing machines to televisions.”  

Device manufacturers are key, here, too, she said. “Time and again we have seen that manufacturers can innovate and come up with high performing, reliable and attractive products that are also energy efficient.” Energy efficiency of mobile phones is becoming a major selling point, she added, pointing to phone manufacturers that are now building marketing plans around devices that use an absolute minimal amount of power. 

“They have proven that they are up to the challenge.”

For more detailed facts on the issue, click here.