How can pluged appliances or electronics still consume electricity when they are in the off position?

Question

I can't understand this. Can somebody explain to me? Thanks. By the way, some say 45% of electricity are lost, some say 75%. Which one is true?

Answer 1

There are even some losses due to the power supply, even if the product isn't drawing any current.  But it's typically very small, on the order of milliwatts.

Answer 2

Turning off a tv for example does not turn off the entire appliance. Some electricity is consumed to keep the tv on "stand-by", with other words, some components are kept powered as a convenience to shorten the time it takes to come on when you hit the "on" button on the remote. A single appliance may not amount to much savings for yourself but concider all the millions of appliances in the U.S. or billions in the entire world. At a rate of $1 per day per appliance, pulling the plug could lead to a significant reduction of fossil fuel use and waste of resources. I hope this explanation was helpful for you.

Answer 3

The percentage is much smaller, less that 1%, if you mean the percentage of a typical household's power lost from appliances that you think are turned off. It's only a few watts per appliance. All of them together total probably less than 20 watts, which costs about $1 per month.

They consume electricity because they are not actually OFF. They are still partially on. The only way to turn them completely off is to pull the plug out of the wall.

They are always on, because they have a remote control. When you push the "ON" button on the remote, the appliance has an active circuit that detects the IR signal from the remote, decodes it, and decides to turn on the rest of the appliance.

Answer 4

Many appliances have a uP built in for various reasons. This "Quiescent Power Draw" is small, but still is present. Typically less than an 1amp.

Electricity loss = Heat

Say an appliance (uWave Oven) puts out 5000watts, it may draw 5500watts. The extra 500watts is the consumption energy it uses. That is a 10% power loss.

Appliances with high losses are ones which produce radient heat, like an iron, are not very efficient.