This article is serving as a catalyst for an entirely different conversation than the matter at hand. The point is: a consumer WON'T. SEE. ANY. DIFFERENCE. PERIOD. As an electrical engineer designing power supplies, I can tell you that the only people who this will affect is other engineers who now must innovate (i.e. not be lazy) to make their products consume less power when they're plugged into the wall but not turned on (or in standby mode). Cell phone chargers have been regulated by the CEC for years, and yet you don't see a difference in your cell phone performance... in fact you probably didn't even know that CEC regulations are one of the main reasons your new cell phone didn't come with a wall wart charger thats weighs 5 lbs. This type of innovation has an impact on your wallet as well: a wall wart charger plugged into the wall 24/7 will cost you about $1 per year. Multiply that by every charger plugged in at your house, and you're talking serious cash.)
Ultimately, this regulation is PRO-consumer. Otherwise, engineers will design products that don't even spin down the hard disk when they're not in use; as happens in most DVRs on the market, causing them to consume more than 60 W even when sitting idle. That's $60/year it's costing you because some engineer knows that you won't know the difference.
Overall, this kind of regulation will take almost a decade to fully kick in, as it doesn't require anyone to throw their old CRTs out the window. But it is a step in the right direction. Wanton waste of energy by consumer devices is a huge problem, and fixing it is one of the fastest ways to help the energy crisis within the next couple of year.
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This article is serving as a catalyst for an entirely different conversation than the matter at hand. The point is: a consumer WON'T. SEE. ANY. DIFFERENCE. PERIOD. As an electrical engineer designing power supplies, I can tell you that the only people who this will affect is other engineers who now must innovate (i.e. not be lazy) to make their products consume less power when they're plugged into the wall but not turned on (or in standby mode). Cell phone chargers have been regulated by the CEC for years, and yet you don't see a difference in your cell phone performance... in fact you probably didn't even know that CEC regulations are one of the main reasons your new cell phone didn't come with a wall wart charger thats weighs 5 lbs. This type of innovation has an impact on your wallet as well: a wall wart charger plugged into the wall 24/7 will cost you about $1 per year. Multiply that by every charger plugged in at your house, and you're talking serious cash.)
Ultimately, this regulation is PRO-consumer. Otherwise, engineers will design products that don't even spin down the hard disk when they're not in use; as happens in most DVRs on the market, causing them to consume more than 60 W even when sitting idle. That's $60/year it's costing you because some engineer knows that you won't know the difference.
Overall, this kind of regulation will take almost a decade to fully kick in, as it doesn't require anyone to throw their old CRTs out the window. But it is a step in the right direction. Wanton waste of energy by consumer devices is a huge problem, and fixing it is one of the fastest ways to help the energy crisis within the next couple of year.