Enhancing energy efficiency by ultra-low standby power consumption in consumer electronics appliances

By Akshat JAIN & Ranajay MALLIK AMG CENTRAL LAB, STMicroelectronics, Greater Noida, INDIA Nowadays most of the electrical and electronic appliances can not be switched off completely without being unplugged. These appliances draw power 24x7 even when they are not performing their primary function.This power is consumed by power supplies which run the circuits and sensors needed to receive a remote signal, soft keypads, switches and displays including miscellaneous LED status lights (user stimuli). This power consumption is known as "standby power." For example - a 32 inch LED TV which under normal use consumes 50W, but when switched off through a remote and plugged to mains would still be consuming ~1W. Imagine a million TV's in stand by for a month! A typical household appliance consumes standby power approximately in the range of 0.5 – 5W, but a home or office has many appliances, which all together amount to significant amount of electricity waste. It is estimated that the standby power is responsible for producing 1% of global CO2 emissions. Therefore reducing unwanted energy consumption associated with standby power can help in saving large amount of power and reducing risk of global warming.