The Energy Wasters Report

Foreign Policy passport is out with a piece about how much energy Windows Vista will save, but more interesting are their stats about the wastage from PCs currently running older operating systems. Microsoft apparently estimates it costs businesses $55 to $75 each year for PCs to stay idle, which grosses up to $5 or $7 Billion or so each year and 45 Million tons of needless CO2 emissions. Whoops!

The Calvert Group, based on US Dept. of Energy Statistics, claims that for every kilowatt-hour of electricity that we consume in the United States, two kilowatt-hours are wasted in the form of heat that is dumped into the atmosphere and waterways. “That level of inefficiency has been largely unchanged since the 1960s. What we waste in the production of electricity is more than Japan uses to power its entire economy!”

Brits are the most wasteful people in Europe, according to a survey of the energy habits of 5,000 Europeans. A report today by the UK`s Energy Saving Trust found Germans are the most efficient in their energy use, followed by the Spanish, but Brits top the European Energy Wasters` league.

BBC News is reporting that the appliance and gadget-packed homes of single men are the worst energy wasters in England and Wales. According to the journal Environment, Development and Sustainability, unmarried men in the 35-44 age group consume 13% more energy and use about 6% more space than one person householders aged over 60.

CNET is out with a comprehensive survey of how much power the latest big and small screen TVs consumer, both running and in standby mode - and how much that power can cost per year (ranging from $13 to $145 a year for the bigger TVs).

The Defense Dept is the world’s largest energy consumer, according to a recent Boston Globe article - they spend $10.6 Billion annually on fuel, or 97% of the federal government’s use. Now they’re looking for a more fuel efficient replacement for the traditional Humvee, which gets 4 MPG in “city” driving and 8 MPG “on the highway.” Maybe some armored hybrids?

The U.S. military doesn’t emphasize fuel efficiency for its planes, ships and tanks… according to this USA Today article. The B52 bomber, for example, burns over 3,000 gallons an hour, because its engines were designed in the 1950s.

The Ukraine is one of the biggest energy wasting countries in the world, according to Radio Free Europe, mostly because of its longtime addiction to cheap Russian natural gas.

This BBC article has a nice little pie chart showing how residential energy is used in the UK, as well as a nice thermal scan of Buckingham Palace - looks like they’re burning some midnight oil.

According to this 2005 article, China spends three times the world average on energy — and seven times what Japan spends — to produce $1 of gross domestic product.