http://www.dallasnews.com/business/stories/445023_vampire_16bus..html

Now before you get to see this...DON"T BLAME GWB for this,,,,shall we say... "over-reaction". Note that the Dems and "everybody" picked up the Ball and tried to run with it. Count the number of absurd statements (especially the one "40% of microwaves use more energy in standby mode than in cooking things....." HUH?

Energy's new vampire slayer: Sparks fly in president's fight against power-sucking gadgets

08/16/2001

By JIM LANDERS / The Dallas Morning News

WASHINGTON – Rarely is the pathway from idea to presidential executive order as straight as it was when George W. Bush flew to Los Angeles in May looking for energy conservation ideas and came back a confirmed vampire slayer.

But a president rarely gets all that he wants without some kind of legislative compromise, and that's been the story this summer of consumer appliances that drink electricity even when they're turned off.

The president was in some political trouble. His energy policies were not delivering California from its electricity crisis. Mr. Bush gave speeches stressing the federal government's concern. Then he left the television cameras behind to meet in a trade center conference room with a group of technology CEOs to get their best ideas.

Howard Earhart, chairman of Power Integrations Inc., got an invitation to the meeting two days earlier at his offices in San Jose. He'd never met the president, and his candidate in the 2000 elections was Democratic also-ran Bill Bradley. Mr. Earhart picked up some show-and-tell help and drove a van down to Los Angeles.

At the meeting, he told the president that many of the battery chargers and power cords used for cell phones, laptop computers and other office and consumer products drink as much as 15 or 20 watts of electricity even when the devices they serve are turned off.

Mr. Earhart called the devices "vampires." Power Integrations makes an integrated circuit that cuts that loss dramatically, he said. The company had 2000 sales of $111.5 million.

Mr. Earhart offered to demonstrate with a desk-sized display board made by a friend at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Once all the CEOs had made their pitch, the president said:

"Show me those energy vampires, and let's see what we can do to help."

One month later, Mr. Bush gave a speech at the Department of Energy.

"These vampires... use about 4 percent of the electricity in the average home," he said. "If we multiplied the vampire devices' energy consumption across the country, we're talking about 52 billion kilowatt-hours over a year, or the equivalent of 26 average-size power plants."

One month after that, on July 31, Mr. Bush signed an executive order requiring bureaucrats who buy stuff for the federal government to purchase appliances that use no more than one watt of power in their standby modes.

The idea caught on in Congress.

Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., got language inserted into the energy bill that passed the House on Aug. 2 requiring household appliances sold in the United States to meet a one-watt standard within two years.

Hitting resistance

The consumer electronics lobbies went ballistic. There was grumbling about Mr. Earhart and his "presto-chango chip."

"This really came out of nowhere for us," said John Palafoutas of the AeA, formerly known as the American Electronics Association and one of the big electronics industry trade associations.

Mr. Bush was causing "consternation among his friends" by calling electronics goods "vampires," said Brian Kelly of the Electronic Industries Alliance.

"In the first quarter of this year, 525,000 jobs were lost in the technology sector globally," Mr. Kelly said, "and government putting a mandate on these companies to retool their products is not smart when you have that happening."

The Consumer Electronics Association warned Congress that a one-watt standard would force consumers to give up their remote controls, which rely on standby power to turn on VCRs, TVs, stereos, garage door openers, ceiling fans and other products.

"To conform to such regulations, manufacturers would be forced to remove existing features from products while simultaneously incurring huge costs," association CEO Gary Shapiro said.

Magnet for lobbyists

The Energy Department met repeatedly with the lobbyists, and wrote Mr. Bush's executive order to provide plenty of flexibility. A final list of appliances covered by the order won't be published until December, and several companies are already maneuvering to get exemptions for their products.

Mr. Markey's standby power language in the House energy bill was watered down by Republican staffers by the time it reached the floor for a vote – so much so that the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy said the measure would realize only a fourth of the forecast energy savings.

"If we are truly going to defang the 'energy vampire,' we are going to need to work out a compromise that strengthens standby-power standards in the Senate or in conference," Mr. Markey said.

Alan K. Meier, a staff scientist at the Berkeley lab who built the display board that Mr. Earhart showed the president, is somewhat bemused by the uproar. He has spent years studying the "leaking electricity" of standby power devices.

"We've had a few of them around for a long time," he said. "Remote control televisions and garage door openers. Doorbells. Thermostats."

All need to consume minute amounts of power when not in use so they can spring into action on demand. "An answering machine just sits there most of the time, yet it has to be awake enough so when a telephone signal comes down the line, it turns itself on," Dr. Meier said.

To get the small amounts of power needed to stay awake, many of these devices incorporate a transformer that converts 115 volts of AC wall current to about 15 volts of DC power.

Power monsters

Rechargers and power cords for cell phones, laptop computers, portable vacuum cleaners and the like continue to consume standby power even when not charging the appliances they were made for.

The chargers have plugs like two fangs, their transformers stay warm all the time and "they like to suck electricity," Dr. Meier said – hence the vampire name. They are also known as "wall warts" and "bricks."

Cordless phones use anywhere from 1.1 watts to five watts of power when in standby mode, depending on the manufacturer. Some TVs use zero watts in standby mode, but others use 21.6 watts.

"If you go through your home, you'll probably find at least 20 devices using standby power," Dr. Meier said. "That gets to be a significant amount of electricity, up to 7 [percent] and even 10 percent of consumption in some of the homes we've surveyed."

Any appliance with a digital clock uses standby power. Dishwashers, dryers, washers and ranges that use touch-pad controls instead of hard buttons consume standby power.

Forty percent of the microwave ovens in the country consume more electricity in a year in standby mode than they do cooking things.

"Some nerd like me has to say, oh, one appliance, that's insignificant, but at 20 per house, times 100 million homes, that's a lot of electricity," Dr. Meier said.

The problem has gained the attention of governments in Australia, Japan and the European Union, but came late to Washington.

'Just a chip'

Power Integrations sells integrated circuits that curb power consumption when devices are not in use, but they have no monopoly on the technology, Mr. Earhart said – no "presto-chango."

"Man, it's just a chip, like any other Silicon Valley integrated circuit," he said.

Power Integrations benefits in the long term from all the attention, but hasn't gotten a sales boost from Washington's sudden interest, Mr. Earhart said.

"We're not selling more chips since he became a vampire slayer," he said of Mr. Bush.

Share prices nearly doubled in the months after the Los Angeles meeting with Mr. Bush, however, from $14.87 on May 29 to $26.15 on Aug. 1.

The stock trades on Nasdaq under the symbol POWI, and closed Wednesday at $22.55 a share, down $1.25.

"We just hope over time, you as a consumer are going to get the products that make good use of power supplies," Mr. Earhart said.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2001

Answers

DOOM ZOMBIE VERSION BASED ON PAST HISTORY STAND BY MODE OF POWER USING DEVICES WILL CAUSE BANK RUNS AND THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT.

by: Gary Duct Tape,

I know you won't believe this at first because I didn't either. When I started to research this for you the evidence was not available. Please be sure to read this to its conclusion because I'm sure that you will agree with me that this is the greatest threat to you and your family that has ever existed.

The President of the U.S. has appointed a secret team whose mission is to force all Manufacturers of all electrical devices to limit power consumption in standby mode to only one Watt. That is a Watt not a kilo watt. Think about all the money that manufacturers will have to spend to re-tool for this Washington based fiasco. We know some will not do it and at that point Mr. Bush will have not choice but to issue an Executive Order declaring Martial Law. That will force the Runs on the Banks and a Bank Panic as people withdraw all their savings in order to buy caves in the hills. GET OUT OF THE CITIES NOW! I beg you. Thank you. BTW, my newsletter is now available by email and I am passing along the savings to you. Instead of the usual $399 year if you want the Postman to bring it, I will send it to you by email if you subscribe for Five Years for the same $399. For the de-bunkers who want to know how I can do that if civilization is going to end, I say this, "You are in De-Nile and Duct Tape will be money long after GWB has messed with the Stand By Mode".

All my books are available at FreeBookies.org.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2001

I christen thee: The Stand-By Meme!

Classic meme example that pile.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2001

Ahh, yes, just Another Day here at the Roost...

My lunch hours used to be just part of the job. Now ... they are an adventure!

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2001

That would place you on the East Coast or CDT but in either case, on the 6 A.M shift for the Dept. of Public Sanitation in one of the Big Wheels. I did not know that the Sanitation Engineers had peeCees available during their Luncheon Dining Hour. Tell us, does the crack of your ass show when you bend over to pick up spillage that misses the Big Mouth at the rear the Big Truck? Or do you have those automatic side jobbies that take uniform garbage cans and tip them over into the side of the Dumpster?

I'll just bet at the end of the day, you are laughing at all of us knowing how secure your pension will be after only a few more years.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2001

So exactly what is work for you TK? What field are YOU the expert in?

Don't want to tell us?

Like I figured.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2001

You will have to wait for the end of the shift plus an hour or two for him to slug down a few shot and beers, shower and most especially, de-odorize. He should respond before he takes off for tonights "rave".

He might post late after numerous objects of his desire shoot him down as a loser.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2001

cpr, when you put on your "Sister Catherine" nun's outfit and prance around with your cat 'o' nine tails, do you ever murmur in sweet pseudo-code?...

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2001

Dang, And just when I was celebrating the power savings of not having filiment voltages on all the time for "instant on" Televisions full of 12AT7 and 6AU6 vacume tubes. They didn't need stand-by power for turning the channel though, just people energy, getting up off of your butt and turning the knob yourself.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2001

Hey T(urd)Keeper, why didn't you put your comment about pseudo-code on this thread after my post about XML? Could it be you don't know anyting about XLM and XMLS? Expect what the initials stand for. Are you happy with Schema 1.0? Tell us about the new one for the Dig. Signatures into SSL.

Want to keep this up BS ARTIST? That was why I could de-bunk Y2k and other myths and legends. I know what I write about OR I DON"T POST A THING.

http://hv.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch- msg.tcl?msg_id=0066EH

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2001

NO COMMENT FROM T(urd)K ON THIS ONE EITHER ........OR IS IT TOO "close to home"? Now that we know you know a little bit but not too much lets see what else we can get out of you. Since you don't recognize Script closely (or you would have let the pseudo-code thing go) what else don't you know ? No XML, no Scripting, and some Fortran. Hmm: 35-50 M or F, probably Mainframe or Mini (or C/S) and maybe a left over out of work from some I.T. downsizing. Only knew what could be gleaned from the trades about Y2k but didn't know the issue very well? Probably couldn't build an asp page without considerable help and would probably blow the rendering for one of the non-asp areas in one of the browsers. Probably goes to the water cooler on breaks muttering about Microsoft's bugs and never RTFMs.

http://hv.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch- msg.tcl?msg_id=0065YA

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2001