Question Technology posted this quote from the Economist
STRANGE though it seems, a typical microwave oven consumes more electricity powering its digital clock than it does heating food. For while heating food requires more than 100 times as much power as running the clock, most microwave ovens stand idleâ??in â??standbyâ?? modeâ??more than 99% of the time. And they are not alone: many other devices, such as televisions, DVD players, stereos and computers also spend much of their lives in standby mode, collectively consuming a huge amount of energy. Moves are being made around the world to reduce this unnecessary power consumption, called â??standby powerâ??. (The Economist)
The term standby power used to be called leaking electricity but the term standby is taken to be more correct. This might be a shame since the idea of a leak is something that needs to be fixed. The number of appliances which do not have “real” on/off switches is actually quite large. If you add to this the number of fixtures which need to draw power to ensure that they function when required then the amount of unneccesary power being eaten is very large. In particular when you think about the fact that these appliances are waiting 24/7 every day. (More information on this topic Standby Power Home Page)