The term for this “vampire load” the power being consumed across a given network that’s doing literally nothing.
Those little LEDs are a tiny amount, but when they number in the millions, that shit adds up. People have calculated the cost in terms of tonnes of CO2.
Are you telling me I unknowingly did a comic on something called “vampire load” without any according pun and thus robbed myself an opportunity to do some Dracula joke about sleep mode and ramming a piece of wood through something to finally get it to really turn off? Damn.
A single diode is around .05w, so to leave one on for a year would use a whopping 438w. So a strip with a dozen would use around 5kw. Where I live that would cost you about 40c for the year at 8 cents per KWH.
That seems pretty significant to me if you multiply it by however many lights they put in to give it a rainbow effect, then multiplied by every gamer device from RAM to mouse, then multiplied by however many people have these products… I couldn’t find anything reputable online doing any kind of analysis though. Seems hard to calculate
For reference, a human using a pedal generator can do the work of about .1kwh. So bike for 4 hours and it’ll power that diode for the year.
But how many are off of solar? Where it’s entirely moot in the end? Yes, the power could be used elsewhere, hence the complicated. But if I’ve got balcony solar, and have excess, what’s wrong with that?
I kinda wish we had like a weird swear jar except its a little power bank thats connected to your stationary bike, elliptical, rowing machine, etc. of your choice and we could top up our houses drain on the grid.
This weird science if done in many homes could have a significant impact on the overall energy consumption and help reduce the demand on the grid.
I have absolutely no idea the numbers but I gotta imagine a 40min intense ride or row could generate enough power to like use a toaster oven or power the dishwasher.
My toaster is 4 slots, and is 1560w. So if you max it out, and say cook your toast for 5 minutes, 1/12 of an hour. That would need 130wh of energy. So if it’s ther “average” of .1kwh from a pedal generator, 1 hour and 20 minutes roughly for your 4 slices of partly burnt toast.
A toaster is just resisters, so using their waste heat to cook food. Incredibly inefficient.
An average dishwasher is 1200w if a load takes an hour, 1.2wh of work is needed. It’s less total wattage than the toaster, but uses more total energy to do its cycle of work.
My large microwave is 1500w, but average is around 1000w, so can do the same math for cooking your leftovers.
Energy is incredibly easy to calculate as Wattage, which is just a function of volts and amps. A higher amp but lower voltage appliance, will use the same watts in the end if all things are 1:1.
But that dishwasher needs those total W the entire time, just like the toaster. So it only needs 12 people to operate.
I built my current machine RGB’d out… it was a bit of a nightmare to assemble with all the extra wiring, but it was marvelous when I first turned it on. I spent some time customizing the lights and it looked so pretty. About a week later, I had most of the lights turned off most of the time… then one fan’s lights went wonky, so it just stayed dark always. Then my AIO had an issue… I replaced it with black air cooler, took out all my RGB fans, and replaced them with better, quieter black fans. The whole machine is blacked out now and super quiet. It was a learning experience for me.
Sorry for nitpicking, but those leds just indicate that something is still consuming power. Usually a transformer feeding voltage to a board that’s waiting for some input. The LED itself really is negligable.
And even if there is no LED, many devices don’t even have a proper “off” mode.
The term for this “vampire load” the power being consumed across a given network that’s doing literally nothing.
Those little LEDs are a tiny amount, but when they number in the millions, that shit adds up. People have calculated the cost in terms of tonnes of CO2.
Are you telling me I unknowingly did a comic on something called “vampire load” without any according pun and thus robbed myself an opportunity to do some Dracula joke about sleep mode and ramming a piece of wood through something to finally get it to really turn off? Damn.
Do a sequel/follow up
It’s still a tiny amount compared to global consumption.
Million of tiny LEDs vs one billionaire going to the bathroom (it’s favorite bathroom is in another country)
I wonder how much electricity gamer RGB lights on everything consumes? I turn mine off but I’m sure most don’t
A single diode is around .05w, so to leave one on for a year would use a whopping 438w. So a strip with a dozen would use around 5kw. Where I live that would cost you about 40c for the year at 8 cents per KWH.
That seems pretty significant to me if you multiply it by however many lights they put in to give it a rainbow effect, then multiplied by every gamer device from RAM to mouse, then multiplied by however many people have these products… I couldn’t find anything reputable online doing any kind of analysis though. Seems hard to calculate
It’s complicated.
For reference, a human using a pedal generator can do the work of about .1kwh. So bike for 4 hours and it’ll power that diode for the year.
But how many are off of solar? Where it’s entirely moot in the end? Yes, the power could be used elsewhere, hence the complicated. But if I’ve got balcony solar, and have excess, what’s wrong with that?
I kinda wish we had like a weird swear jar except its a little power bank thats connected to your stationary bike, elliptical, rowing machine, etc. of your choice and we could top up our houses drain on the grid.
This weird science if done in many homes could have a significant impact on the overall energy consumption and help reduce the demand on the grid.
I have absolutely no idea the numbers but I gotta imagine a 40min intense ride or row could generate enough power to like use a toaster oven or power the dishwasher.
You mean like a battery?
Your username and my comment. Yes, like a battery idk why I said swear jar or power bank. LOL
My toaster is 4 slots, and is 1560w. So if you max it out, and say cook your toast for 5 minutes, 1/12 of an hour. That would need 130wh of energy. So if it’s ther “average” of .1kwh from a pedal generator, 1 hour and 20 minutes roughly for your 4 slices of partly burnt toast.
Damn that’s great analysis! I love how you did that. Thank you!
Definitely its a storage solution, but I am shocked how much power that consumes.
A toaster is just resisters, so using their waste heat to cook food. Incredibly inefficient.
An average dishwasher is 1200w if a load takes an hour, 1.2wh of work is needed. It’s less total wattage than the toaster, but uses more total energy to do its cycle of work.
My large microwave is 1500w, but average is around 1000w, so can do the same math for cooking your leftovers.
Energy is incredibly easy to calculate as Wattage, which is just a function of volts and amps. A higher amp but lower voltage appliance, will use the same watts in the end if all things are 1:1.
But that dishwasher needs those total W the entire time, just like the toaster. So it only needs 12 people to operate.
I built my current machine RGB’d out… it was a bit of a nightmare to assemble with all the extra wiring, but it was marvelous when I first turned it on. I spent some time customizing the lights and it looked so pretty. About a week later, I had most of the lights turned off most of the time… then one fan’s lights went wonky, so it just stayed dark always. Then my AIO had an issue… I replaced it with black air cooler, took out all my RGB fans, and replaced them with better, quieter black fans. The whole machine is blacked out now and super quiet. It was a learning experience for me.
Sorry for nitpicking, but those leds just indicate that something is still consuming power. Usually a transformer feeding voltage to a board that’s waiting for some input. The LED itself really is negligable.
And even if there is no LED, many devices don’t even have a proper “off” mode.