I'm Paul Westbrook, the Sustainable Development Manager at Texas Instruments. I'm in International Facilities and work on making our TI sites (both new and existing) more resource efficient and sustainable. One of my favorite topics is energy efficiency. Efficiency isn't "sexy" and doesn't get much press, but it is the most cost effective and enviromentally friendly approach that we have. The best term I've seen to describe it is Amory Lovins' "Negawatt." What started as a typographical error in a utility report turned into a word that describes a unit of energy saved through an efficiency measure. Saving energy is always more cost effective than producing it - from any source.
Standby energy, or "vampire power," is an area of immense negawatt potential. The EPA estimates that the average U.S. household spends $100 per year to power devices while they are off (or in standby mode). On a national basis, this standby power accounts for more than 100 billion kilowatt hours of annual U.S. electricity consumption and more than $10 billion in annual energy costs.
We have good TI design experience extending the life of battery powered devices. We need to apply that same thinking to plug-in devices to help reduce this energy waste. Many of the DLP TV's excel in reduced power consumption (in both standby and operating modes) and we should heavily market this competitive advantage.
Paul Westbrook
Sustainable Development Manager, SMTS, LEED AP
Original publication date: 10/28/2008
