OK, OK Shirley. The local paper's actual headline was “Cable Boxes waste billions in energy, study finds”.
Well, I for one was 'shocked, shocked' to learn that those sneaky little black critters nestled so neatly next to my non-digital, non-HDTV were aiding and abetting in my race to insolvency! I had just recently been made aware that the local cable provider took advantage of the government's mandate to move to digital to send me a new cable box and to increase my monthly cable fee for both the basic channel option PLUS the bloody box that the government's mandate forced me to install if I cared to continue to watch TV. Now we learn that these sneaky little black box critters are eating our electricity 24/7; while we eat, while we play, while we sleep they are eating away at our wealth.
According to a study by the 'Natural Resources Defense Council' “there are 160 million [of these little critters] set-top boxes in the U.S. of A. alone. One for every two people, [unsure if that count includes all the illegal aliens, but what the heck, it close enough for government regulation], and that number is rising. One high-definition DVR and one high-definition cable box use an average of 446 kilowatt-hours a year, about 10% more than a 21-cubic foot energy efficient refrigerator.”
Turns out this is because the little critters run at full speed 24/7. They don't sleep, they don't go into a quiet mode, they never turn themselves off, except when you least expect them to. Like when that once in a life time football game comes on and the little black critter just right out dies on you.
Two reasons are supplied by the industry as to why this is the way they are designed. First answer was “Nobody asked us to use less” [electricity]. The second was that folks, [you and me], expect instant response when we turn on the TV. “People are used to the idea that computers take some time to boot up, but they expect the TV to turn on instantly.”
Well, I certainly hope that our federal government gets involved in this. We need additional regulation of these black boxes. Now that the government has caused their ubiquitous need, they need to dictate that they use some 84.7% less electricity. [I arrived at that figure using the same methodology as Obama used to come up with the 52.3 MPG for cars by 2030 or whenever. I just made it up.]
Of course when the government is finished with their new regulations for the little black critters, they will be a neutral color so as to not offend some ethnic group, larger than the TV itself, cost as much as the TV, and have a life expectancy of less than 2 years so as to ensure full employment of this new industry that the government has created.
Ain't large government intrusions into our lives just grand? Well it seems that every time they do it, it costs us a grand.
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