2009-09-21
Plugged-In Age Feeds a Hunger for Electricity. By Jad Mouawad and Kate Galbraith, NYTimes, September 20, 2009. "Electricity use from power-hungry gadgets is rising fast all over the world. The fancy new flat-panel televisions everyone has been buying in recent years have turned out to be bigger power hogs than some refrigerators. The proliferation of personal computers, iPods, cellphones, game consoles and all the rest amounts to the fastest-growing source of power demand in the world. Americans now have about 25 consumer electronic products in every household, compared with just three in 1980. Worldwide, consumer electronics now represent 15% of household power demand, and that is expected to triple over the next two decades, according to the International Energy Agency [PDF, 7 pp], making it more difficult to tackle the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for global warming. To satisfy the demand from gadgets will require building the equivalent of 560 coal-fired power plants, or 230 nuclear plants, according to the agency."
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