Measurements of Standby Power Consumption of Domestic Appliances in Albania

Abstract

Nearly all modern domestic appliances used in typical homes consume some energy when they are left on standby mode or even switched off. I investigated the variation in standby power consumption in five homes in Korça city. The typical standby energy loss for studied homes ranged from 8–115 W, with an average of 37 W. This corresponded to 3%-20% of the homes annual electricity use. This loss and the associated cost are not high enough to get noticed by the consumer. However, when such power losses of all domestic appliances are aggregated at the level of a country, the amount becomes significant and cannot be ignored. The appliances with the largest standby losses were coffee machines, televisions, set-top boxes and printers. They account for a significant proportion of the electricity consumption in more and more Albanian households. The wide variation in the standby power of appliances providing the same benefits indicates that producers are able to reduce standby losses without degrading performance. The standby power consumption of various domestic appliances was determined using an energy smart meter and data-logger connected with a computer. The purpose of this paper is to estimate how much power is wasted in a typical Albanian home due to household appliances being in the standby mode.