An investigation of standby energy losses in residential sector: Solutions and policies

This paper investigates the standby power losses of household appliances and determines these losses by field measurements and bottom-up approaches. It is revealed that average standby power losses of e-appliances at household in Oman is 103.4 Watts and could further increase if other miscellaneous appliances are also taken into account. Calculations show that TV sets alone are responsible to consume 1.89 MW standby powers across the country. The paper considers various technological and socio-economic options to diminish the standby power consumption and signify that 42.72% of energy consumed by appliances can be saved by end-users implementing suitable measures. Energy management programmes like energy efficiency standards, labelling and policy instruments to tackle the standby power losses are also discussed. Finally, paper looks into the barriers and their way-outs to implement the energy efficiency standards and labelling.