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View Full Version : OMG, Talk about Bad Science

Copernicus
04-21-2006, 02:04 PM
Some environmental wacko TV producer, Laurie David is promoting an upcoming show on global warming and makes the following (paraphrased) statment:

When you unplug your cellphone from the charger and leave the charger in the wall you are still drawing power. 10% of all energy use is wasted in this way, so unplug your toasters and other applicances when you arent using them"

She may be right about cell phone transformers, though I doubt it..if the DC output is facing infinite resistance does the output somehow feedback into the transformer? And even if it does, why would addtional AC power need to be drawn?

I am certain she is wrong about toasters and other non-transformer based appliances, though.
AvivaSimplex
04-21-2006, 05:02 PM
I'd guess she means appliances on standby. Microwaves, TVs, etc. all draw power when you're not actively using them. There was an article in the economist about this recently:
http://economist.com/printedition/displaystory.cfm?story_id=5571582
WaterlooPoker
04-21-2006, 06:12 PM
Just to get this straight... you really have no evidence whether she is right or wrong but are disagreeing with her?

I have no evidence whether she is right or wrong but do not agree or disagree with her.
CORed
04-21-2006, 07:06 PM
If the cell phone charger is just a transformer with a rectifier on the secondary, it draws very little power with no load. With an open secondary, the only thing to draw any power at all is the resistive load of the primary. It probably draws a tiny little bit of power, but it's minimal. A toaster probably draws nothing, unless it has some LED's or something. Some appliances have a standby mode that keeps something warm so these draw some power. Clocks, LED's, etc. draw a little, too. I would guess that the amoung of power wased is closer to 1% than 10%.
Philo
04-21-2006, 10:39 PM
[ QUOTE ]
Just to get this straight... you really have no evidence whether she is right or wrong but are disagreeing with her?

I have no evidence whether she is right or wrong but do not agree or disagree with her.

[/ QUOTE ]

Of course he has evidence--didn't you see the part where he said she's an environmental wacko?
Copernicus
04-21-2006, 11:43 PM
[ QUOTE ]
Just to get this straight... you really have no evidence whether she is right or wrong but are disagreeing with her?

I have no evidence whether she is right or wrong but do not agree or disagree with her.

[/ QUOTE ]

Im disagreeing with her on things that I know she is wrong on, eg a toaster, which she specifically mentioned.