VZ Set top box wastes tons of electricity

[Bixbyte]

As much electricity as a refrigerator even when the box is turned off.

Since the set top box is always on even when the box says that it is off.

Unplug your set top and save a couple hundred dollars a year? 

Six Stealthy Energy Hogs: Are They Lurking in Your Home?

Set-Top Boxes

These familiar electronic arrays sit on or near many televisions to connect cable to our entertainment systems. But it's not just their clocks that run when no one is watching. These devices function much like mini-computers that communicate with remote content sources or record favorite shows while you're out. That means they require a lot of energy.

"The issue with set-top boxes is that they never power down and they are almost always consuming their full power requirements even when you think you've turned it off," said Noah Horowitz, a senior scientist at Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). "If you have a DVR on your main TV, and a regular set-top box on a second TV, that could equal the energy use of a new refrigerator."

In 2010, an NRDC study found, the 160 million set-top boxes in the U.S. consumed the annual output of nine average coal-fired plants, some 27 billion kilowatt hours in all. That equals the total household electricity consumption of the entire state of Maryland. That kind of power costs money—more than $3 billion a year in electric bills—and most of that cash is spent on boxes running at full power while nobody is watching or recording their content. "We're spending about $2 billion a year in electricity bills to power set-top boxes when they are not even in use," Horowitz said.

[dagelgato]

use a power strip to plugin in all your "energy hogs" and then simple to disconnect from power

[PJL]

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@Bixbyte wrote:

As much electricity as a refrigerator even when the box is turned off.

Since the set top box is always on even when the box says that it is off.

Unplug your set top and save a couple hundred dollars a year? 

Six Stealthy Energy Hogs: Are They Lurking in Your Home?

Set-Top Boxes

These familiar electronic arrays sit on or near many televisions to connect cable to our entertainment systems. But it's not just their clocks that run when no one is watching. These devices function much like mini-computers that communicate with remote content sources or record favorite shows while you're out. That means they require a lot of energy.

"The issue with set-top boxes is that they never power down and they are almost always consuming their full power requirements even when you think you've turned it off," said Noah Horowitz, a senior scientist at Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). "If you have a DVR on your main TV, and a regular set-top box on a second TV, that could equal the energy use of a new refrigerator."

In 2010, an NRDC study found, the 160 million set-top boxes in the U.S. consumed the annual output of nine average coal-fired plants, some 27 billion kilowatt hours in all. That equals the total household electricity consumption of the entire state of Maryland. That kind of power costs money—more than $3 billion a year in electric bills—and most of that cash is spent on boxes running at full power while nobody is watching or recording their content. "We're spending about $2 billion a year in electricity bills to power set-top boxes when they are not even in use," Horowitz said.

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I'm trying to understand the point of the subject of your thread.  I'm curious if forums for other providers also have one like it.  ALL set top boxes, whether the ones use by Verizon or any other provider, use power.  And the comparison to a refrigerator is vague.  There are a lot of "coulds" and "mights" in the article you reference.  Other analyses don't make such a comparison.  It would be much better to discuss the actual consumption of STBs rather than such comparisons, in my opinion.  I'm not attacking the NRDC, but the underyling study uses ranges and extrapolates data without full explanation and is therefore misleading to me.

[Bixbyte]

Cisco Set Top Box Energy Consumption Link

The Cisco HD DVR Set-Top Box, MPEG 4/2, MoCa CHS 435HDC set-top box is made by Cisco. It features cable base functionality. It also features addtl. tuners, adv. video processing, HD, CableCARD, home network interface. It is not available for retail purchase. It was made available on the market in July 2010. When turned on, it uses 27.74 W of electricity. When tested in sleep mode, it used 27.52 W of electricity. It does not incorporate auto power down. Its total energy consumption is estimated to be 242.2 kWh/yr.

242 KWh/yr X .1471 cents per KWh = 

$36.00 of electricty per year X how many millions of STB used by VZ FIOS customers?

The savings are very quantifiable if we have a total shut down function incorporated on all those CISCO STB nationwide.

Could be $100 Million of electricty nationwide in my humble opinion. 

[CRobGauth]

The STB would have to be modified quite a bit.

Now it is designed to keep software in memory.

When you power it up, it has to download software and guide data.

Can take a few minutes. Are you willing to tolerate the delay?

And what about a DVR? How can it know when to record if it is not running?

Take a look at your TV.

I'll bet it uses as much if not more while in sleep mode. Bet you don't turn it off.

What about your home computer, monitor and printer.

Do you power them all off completely?

Yes everything electrical could probably be more efficient.

Just not worth the hassle.

[Bixbyte]

Just out of curiosity I unplugged the VZ Cisco Set top box at around 2:00 AM and plugged the box back in at 9:00 AM.

The reboot takes less than 2 minutes.

I will continue to save the electricity by unplugging the Hot Cisco Set Top Box.

It does feel like a small heater.

So, I think Verizon should offer their Cisco STB to have the capability to shut down and save electricity.

Consider subscribers that have  more than one Cisco STB the electricty saving would help make 

Verizon a Greener Company.

I do not have any say about Verizon business practices.

But, If I was in charge I would contact Cisco to reprogram their STB with the option to shut down the power entirely.

This would save America huge amounts of Electricity. 

[armond_in_nj1]

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@Bixbyte wrote:

... I will continue to save the electricity by unplugging the Hot Cisco Set Top Box ... 

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As you prefer.  If you really want to get into enhanced electrical efficiency, why not employ a home automation system that controls all electrical devices in the home in any fashion you desire.  Then you will not be at the mercy of manufacturers and suppliers, and subject to their designs.

I set this up in my home a few years back and although I am by no means an expert, I must say it does whatever I ask.

[CRobGauth]

Why didn't you unplug the TV as well?

They also use electricity even when turned off?

And do you always turn off your computer when you are not using it?

Yes the STBs can save power, but a lot of other components as well.

Not sure why you are focusing just on STBs.

[Bixbyte]

My TV draws no power when the device is powered off.

[PJL]

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@Bixbyte wrote:

My TV draws no power when the device is powered off.

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Can you turn it on with a remote? If so, it does indeed have some (mininal) active electronics drawing some power or it would not respond to the remote on command.