The Price of idleness

Household devices waste a lot of energy doing nothing

1 Electrical devices such as CD players, videos and burglar alarms are consuming more energy in stand-by mode than when they are actually being used.

2 Maria Sanchez and her colleagues from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Berkeley, California, tested more than 50 small electrical appliances, from computers to doorbells, electric movers, VCRs, and pool pumps. In the current issue of Energy Policy, they report that about half of all consumer electronics energy is used in stand-by mode. This costs American consumers $1 billion a year in wasted energy.

3 The researchers say that while electronic devices are lying dormant (休眠狀態), running their clocks, maintaining internal memories or displaying their settings, they consume around 40 terawatt hours of electricity in the US every year -- enough to power a city such as Chicago or London. Many machines' use almost as much power on stand-by as when working. For example, it takes 15 watts to play a typical CD, but an average of 11 watts to keep it on stand-by. Satellite TV systems use 14 watts when active and 14 watts on stand-by. Given the long hours these systems spend idling, each uses far more power in stand-by mode than when actually working.

4 Bad design is largely to blame, says Sanchez. In a separate survey of CD players last year, her colleague Wolfgang Huber found that two machines with similar features used 28 watts and 2 watts respectively on stand-by. "For most products, we believe that stand-by power can be reduced to one watt or less," says Sanchez.

5 She backs proposals to set up a national labeling system to promote machines that meet this standard. Such a system could reduce stand-by power consumption in the US by 50 per cent, says co-author Alan Meier -- more than 20 terawatt hours per year. Last month, electronics company Philips announced the launch of a device that can dramatically reduce the power used in stand-by mode.

1 Paragraph 2 ____________

2 Paragraph 3 ____________

3 Paragraph 4 ____________

4 Paragraph 5 ____________

A Factor Leading to Energy Waste

B Home Appliances

C Proposals to Cut Energy Consumption

D Energy Consumption Test

E Terawatt Hours

F Nonessential Electricity Use

5 In the US the home appliances use ____________

6 The energy wasted by the electronic devices in the US is sufficient to ___________.

7 It is found that power waste is mainly caused by _____________

8 Philips started to develop a device that can greatly reduces _______________

A bad design

B the total energy of the country

C power a large city

D the most energy

E wasted energy

F stand-by power consumption

參考答案：D、 F、 A、 C、 D、 C、 F、 E

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