国际能源机构：全球联网设备每年浪费800亿美元电能

    大家下次给电视或游戏机通电时，花点时间想想这些设备造成的浪费吧。

    上周三，为发达国家提供建议的国际能源机构（International Energy Agency）公布报告，分析了联网设备造成的浪费，计算出的数额之大令人震惊。2013年，由于全球140亿台在线电子设备能效低下，导致800多亿美元的电能白白浪费。这些设备包括打印机、游戏机和电视机。

    这份报告还指出，到2020年，随着洗衣机、电灯泡和冰箱等设备也纷纷联网，这个数字预计将攀升至1200亿美元。

    报告指出，“在日益数字化的各大经济体中，电力需求正在以惊人的速度增长。”总部设在巴黎的国际能源机构发现，各类设备2013年大约消耗了616太瓦时电能。问题在于，其中大部分电能是设备处于待机模式时消耗的。

    国际能源机构总干事玛丽亚•范德胡芬在声明中称：“问题不在于这些设备往往处于待机模式，而在于它们维持联网状态、与网络通信所耗费的电能过多。”

    国际能源机构还表示，设备上的“待机”选项“名不副实”。“待机”听起来感觉设备已经休眠，几乎跟关机差不多。但国际能源机构发现，事实并非如此。该机构表示：“事实上，大多数可联网设备在待机模式下与被激活执行主要任务时的能耗一样大。”

    范德胡芬补充说：“通过采用当今最先进的技术，这类设备能在待机模式下执行完全一样的任务，同时少消耗约65％的电能。”

    国际能源机构称，采用更高效技术所能节省的电能相当于减少6亿多公吨二氧化碳排放，或关闭200座燃煤发电厂。（财富中文网）

    译者：项航

    The next time you power on your television or game consoles, take a second to think about the waste associated with it.

    A report by the International Energy Agency, an organizations that advises developed nations, released on Wednesday did just that and the sum is astounding. Over $80 billion in power was spent unnecessarily in 2013 because of inefficiencies with the world’s 14 billion online electronic devices, including printers, gaming consoles and televisions.

    By 2020, that number is expected to climb to $120 billion as more devices like washing machines, light bulbs and refrigerators are connect online, according to the report.

    “Electricity demand of our increasingly digital economies is growing at an alarming rate,” the report said. The IEA, which is based in Paris, found that devices consumed about 616 terawatt-hours of power in 2013. The catch? Most of that power was used while the devices were in standby mode.

    “The problem is not that these devices are often in standby mode, but rather that they typically use much more power than they should to maintain a connection and communicate with the network,” said Maria Van der Hoeven, the IEA’s executive director, in a statement.

    The IEA also said that the idea of the standby option on a devise is a “misnomer.” While it “suggests that the device has gone to sleep and is almost off,” the agency found that’s not the case. “In reality, most network-enabled devices draw as much power in this mode as when activated to perform their main tasks,” theagency explained.

    “Just by using today’s best-available technology, such devices could perform exactly the same tasks in standby while consuming around 65 percent less power,” she added.

    To put it in perspective, the agency said that more efficient technologies could save the equivalent of over 600 million metric tons of CO2 emissions, or closing the doors on 200 coal-fired power plants.