The Media's Answer To Phantom Load Is... A Load.

Saving energy seems to be in fashion. Recently on TV, in community papers, and on the Internet, I've been reading about the problem of "phantom load" and what we can do about it. The media wants to be as helpful as possible and point out energy-efficiency low-hanging fruit for all to enjoy. (Yes, I have replaced nearly all of my light bulbs with CFLs.) But, dealing with phantom load is not as easy as the media sometimes makes it out to be.

If you're not familiar with phantom load, it is this: There are many devices we keep plugged in all the time even though we aren't using them all the time. Such devices include televisions, DVD players, some computer peripherals such as printers, and almost all power adapters and device chargers, also known as "wall warts" (yuck!) Phantom load refers to the electricity consumed by these devices when they aren't actively in use. Often the guilty devices have no on/off function, or an on/off function that would be better described as on/sleep.

For instance, even when turned "off", modern TVs continue to draw some electricity to respond to remote control events and maintain the internal clock and other settings. The charger for a cell phone, when left plugged in, still consumes some electricity even though the phone might not be attached. And so on.

A few references to phantom load that I have come across in the media have generally painted the solution to the problem in simplistic terms: Just plug your phantom load devices into a power bar (power strip), and turn them "really off" via the power bar's on/off switch when not in use! So simple.

While this solution might appeal to journalists who don't know any better (and might come by it honestly), it isn't practical. Technical people know that any device that keeps time (such as a VCR) usually needs to be reprogrammed when you plug it in again. Worse than just losing the time, many modern TV sets "forget" what channels are available and need to be "autoprogrammed" again before being usable. Fancy digital cable boxes that more of us are using to get quality HDTV content also require extensive initialization if power is cut. It sometimes takes minutes for my digital cable receivers to reboot and retrieve interactive program guide data from the cable company network. Then, many devices that can remember preferences or options tend to lose those, too.

So, don't believe everything you read as being as simple as stated, and don't go crazy with the power bars. What can you do, though?

Power adapters and device chargers can and should be unplugged when not in use. If your phone or MP3 player is not attached for charging, then there is no issue with unplugging the adapter except for the inconvenience of having to plug it in again later.

When it comes to other devices, we need to turn to the manufacturers to ultimately address the problem of phantom load. Manufacturers should eliminate phantom load if not necessary — for instance, I don't want a clock on my microwave oven! When phantom load is necessary, manufacturers should ensure it is minimized.

I also call upon manufacturers to provide more information to consumers about phantom load and energy consumption in general. For instance, I would like to know at a glance how much electricity a product would consume during a year if I plugged it in and never used it. I'd also like to know how much a product would consume if turned on and used a reasonable number of hours. Why don't they print that information on product boxes and in product literature? Enable us to compare products on the basis of energy consumption.

So — to the media — please do continue to educate the masses about energy efficiency issues like phantom load. But, please cut the load and stop regurgitating these simplistic and impractical solutions. Let's point the finger at manufacturers and get them doing something about it.

I Want To Buy A Samsung SSD For My Notebook, But I Can't Find One For Sale

Don't you hate it when you know a product exists, and you have the desire and the capacity to purchase it, but you simply cannot find one available for sale to mere mortals?

I'm currently feeling this way about a good solid-state disk (SSD) replacement for my notebook computer. I purchased a new notebook earlier this year with the primary goal of ultra-portability. I knew I would be sacrificing some performance, but I really wanted something light that wouldn't give me a sore back when traveling with it.

My new notebook is small and lightweight and easy to travel with, but it just doesn't feel snappy enough – and not even close to my old 8-pound clunker. The old clunker had benefited from an upgrade to one of fastest 2.5" drives around at the time (the Hitachi Travelstar E7K60, 7200rpm with an 8MB cache), and that made it feel just like a desktop. I spoiled myself, and now I can't bear this new system's slow disk!

To address that, I'm interested in upgrading the internal 1.8" hard drive to one of the new Samsung 64GB solid-state disks. They have been talked about for at least six months, and reviews by those who have tried one say they are very fast compared to traditional drives, and go easier on the battery too.

My notebook is good for CPU (dual core, and it hardly ever spikes to 100%), and it is also good for RAM (1.5GB), so the disk has got to be the major bottleneck. The disk seems to spin a lot, even with Vista's ReadyBoost enabled on 2GB of fast flash memory. So, I would like a faster replacement 1.8" drive, and the SSD seems to fit the need.

Samsung's 64GB SSD is purportedly "available" now. However, "available" seems to mean "available if you are a major computer manufacturer and wish to buy them by the hundreds or thousands to build into new systems." I just can't find them available online for sale like most other parts. A Google search for "Samsung 64gb ssd" gave me a lot of hits, but they just talk about the product:

• "Samsung unveils"...
• "Samsung has announced"...
• "Samsung is offering"...
• "Samsung now shipping"...
• "Samsung mass-producing"...

OK, Samsung - I'm sold, and I want one! Where do I buy one?

Usually when I can't find something obviously for sale at either large or small online retailers, I hop on to eBay and find somebody who discovered the lack of and is satisfying the need for a market, but I couldn't get a single hit on eBay for "Samsung 64gb". I think somebody could make a bundle selling these to individuals, at least in the short-term until they are more generally available.

As time passes, I do believe they'll become more generally available, but this just frustrates me all the same (I want one now!) and I thought I'd share my frustration with you. Of course, if you do know where I can buy one, please let me know! :-)

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Update! A Response from Samsung:
Here's the response I recently got from Samsung after inquiring where I can get one.

Hello Chris W. Rea ,
Thank you for your inquiry to Samsung Semiconductor.

Samsung Semiconductor does not sell our product directly to end customers in World Wide.
We sell our product including SSD via Branch Offices which is located World Wide.
Please contact our local Branch Office for locating the samples and discuss in detail regarding OEM possibilities.
Deep apology for inconvenience.

I'll try Samsung Canada next.

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Another Response From Samsung on 22-Oct-2007:
So, it appears there is no way right now for me to get one until one of Samsung's customers makes them more readily available:

Hi Chris,
Thanks for the follow up, after our discussion, Dell is considering the upgrade option for their existing customers though I don't have confirmation yet.
This market is just starting up...although Samsung is purely B-B, we are encouraging all of our customers who manufacture SSDs to be more proactive in their promotions and distribution locations.
If not Dell, SSDs will be coming your way soon. ;-)

If I ever do manage to get one, I'll post a final update.

I Love My 'Kill A Watt'

My family thinks I am a real nut about saving energy. The good thing about the Internet is you can always find somebody who is nuttier than you, so I don't feel so bad.

I bought the gadget pictured at the right some time ago. It's called the Kill A Watt. (Details here.) If you've ever wondered how much juice a given household appliance sucks, then you need one of these.

Simply plug it into the wall, and then plug into it whatever appliance you want to measure. The display shows a variety of information, including the number of watts being drawn, the voltage, etc.

I find the most useful reading to be kWh, or "kilowatt-hours". My electrical utility bills me by kWh used, so I can directly correlate a given household appliance to dollars and cents. Knowing this information, I can take action, such as replacing the appliance, using it less often, or keeping it unplugged when not in use. The Kill A Watt has a built-in timer that starts counting from when you plug it in, so checking the length of time it took for an appliance to draw the amount of energy reported is easy as well. Knowing that, it is straightforward to estimate monthly or annual usage.

I've also used it to measure multiple devices at once. For instance, my household network is a mish-mash of broadband modems, routers, switches, and servers. Most of that is serviced by two uninterruptible power supplies. Instead of measuring each device alone, I plugged each UPS into the Kill A Watt. Now I know how much money I'm spending on keeping a good chunk of my network powered 24 hours per day. I've also measured how much energy is consumed by our home entertainment system — while that isn't on 24 hours per day, we get close on some days! (Darn PVR :-)

One thing I haven't been able to figure out is a way to measure the energy consumed by the biggest appliances in the house: the furnace fan, the air conditioner, the clothes dryer, the range, the oven. These are either wired direct to the panel or don't use standard outlets, since each requires a lot of juice. The best I've been able to do is guess based on research of similar appliances. I wish these all had stickers or information in the manual showing average and peak consumption, but they don't. Theoretically, I could measure each by turning off everything else in the house at the electrical panel, and then checking the utility's meter outside, but I think inconveniencing the household like that would be a little nutty!