DVRs and Cable Boxes are Massive Energy Drain

A recent report conducted by an environmental group, says that the boxes used to bring in cable television signals to your television use a lot of power, especially when we're not watching television.

The National Resource Defense Council, based in San Francisco, says the digital video recorders that allow a cable subscriber to record TV programs digitally, and cable boxes use as much - if not more - power than other larger appliances in the home.

Pierre Delforge, a senior engineer for the council, said his group is advocating the production of equipment that uses less power.

"Cable boxes and DVRs use as much power as nine power plants," Mr. Delforge said. "Our main issue with them is that two-thirds of that power is used when the boxes are not in use by the user, so the equivalent of the power of six plants, or $2 billion annually, is wasted."

Mr. Delforge said the way the units are designed, it is not possible for the consumer to reduce their power consumption.

"There is no way to lower the power in these units, outside of pulling the plug, which is inconvenient,as this erases the time and recording memory." Mr. Delforge said. "The DVRs are 30 to 40 watts, and the boxes without the DVRs are 20 to 25 watts. They use more electricity than the big-screen TVs they are attached to."

So the council is advocating different ways to design the equipment better.

"First, they need a way to be put into a low-power mode," Mr. Delforge said. "Or, the boxes can be designed to power down automatically after a certain time period of inactivity. Another way is to have several TVs run off the same DVR or cable box."

If set top boxes all met Energy Star requirements, consumer energy cost savings would be about $1.8 billion each year, reducing greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to more than 2 million vehicles.

Mr. Delforge said boxes with an Energy Star rating are the best alternative available now.

Ashley Glover, a spokesman for Pace, the company that manufactures the boxes for Service Electric Cablevision, said three of their products used in the Hazleton area have the Energy Star rating.

Brian Dietz, vice president for the National Cable and Telecommunications Association in Washington, D.C., said newer model cable boxes now use less energy than older predecessors.

He said 95 percent of the set-top boxes now deployed by Comcast are Energy Star rated.

"The power they use has been drastically overstated," Mr. Dietz about the council report. "They said each home has a DVR and a cable box. Only one-third of homes have a DVR, and the cable boxes they have use less energy."

Comcast spokesman Bob Grove deferred comment to the National Cable and Telecommunications Association.

Mr. Dietz said cable box and digital video recorder technology is more advanced.

"Ten years ago, a high-definition DVR used 40 watts of power," he said. "Now, a high-def DVR has more processing capabilities, and uses half the power. The power cable boxes use is reduced significantly, and the services they provide has increased. We continue to focus on ways to save power."

Mr. Dietz said Energy Star-rated boxes are now the rule.