# Home idle load

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Type of residential energy consumption

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**Home idle load** is the continuous residential electric [energy consumption](/source/Energy_consumption) as measured by [smart meters](/source/Smart_meters).[1][2][3] It differs from [standby power](/source/Standby_power) (loads) in that it includes energy consumption by devices that cycle on and off within the hourly period of standard smart meters (such as [fridges](/source/Fridge), [aquarium](/source/Aquarium) [heaters](/source/Heater), [wine coolers](/source/Wine_accessory#Coolers), etc.).[4][5][6] As such, home idle loads can be measured accurately by smart meters. As at 2014, home idle load constituted an average of 32% of household electricity consumption in the U.S.[7]

## Type of devices

The primary categories of devices that contribute to Home Idle Load include:

- [Electronic devices](/source/Electronic_device) that consume electricity while not being actively used (including televisions, [game consoles](/source/Game_console), [digital picture frames](/source/Digital_picture_frame), etc.)

- Home infrastructure devices (including analog [thermostats](/source/Thermostat), [doorbells](/source/Doorbell), telephones, [clocks](/source/Clock), [GFCI](/source/GFCI) [outlets](/source/Electrical_outlet), [smoke alarms](/source/Smoke_alarm), continuous hot water recirculation pumps, etc.).

- Any type of device used to maintain a continuous temperature differential (including [freezers](/source/Freezer), [icemakers](/source/Icemaker), [refrigerators](/source/Refrigerator), [wine coolers](/source/Wine_accessory#Coolers), [terrarium](/source/Terrarium) [heaters](/source/Heater), heated floors, [instant hot water dispensers](/source/Instant_hot_water_dispenser), etc.). Although such devices may need to stay on continuously, more recent models have proven to be more efficient and can result in considerably lower home idle loads.[8]

## Reducing home idle load

Approaches to reduce home idle loads include:

- Disabling electronic devices with [standby power](/source/Standby_power) loads either manually (unplugging) or by managing [power strips](/source/Power_strip) (including smart [power socket](/source/Power_socket) types)

- Using a [timer](/source/Timer) switch that stops electric consumption from devices when not in use

- Using a smart power strip with a master outlet that manages electricity for multiple devices

- Replacing older (or malfunctioning) devices with more efficient options[9][10]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Kwatra, S.; Amann, J. (2013). ["Miscellaneous Energy Loads in Buildings"](https://www.aceee.org/research-report/a133). *American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20170129161700/http://aceee.org/research-report/a133) from the original on 2017-01-29. Retrieved 2017-03-01.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** R. Rajagopal; et al. (2015). "VISDOM: Data Analytics Architecture for Load Management". *Stanford Sustainable Systems and Smart Grid Labs at Stanford University*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-auto_3-0)** ["Home Idle Load"](https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/home-idle-load-IP.pdf) (PDF). *NRDC*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20161201101818/https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/home-idle-load-IP.pdf) (PDF) from the original on 2016-12-01. Retrieved 2017-03-01.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Borgeson, S.; Tan, S. (2015). "Learning from Hourly Household Energy Consumption: Extracting, Visualizing, and Interpreting Household Smart Meter Data". *Proceedings of the 2015 Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) Conference, Los Angeles*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Smith, B.A.; Wong, J. (2012). "Simple Way to Use Interval Data to Segment Residential Customers for Energy Efficiency and Demand Response Program Targeting". *ACEEE Summer Study Proceedings*: 5–374–386.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["Home Idle Load: Devices Wasting Huge Amounts of Electricity When Not in Active Use"](https://www.nrdc.org/resources/home-idle-load-devices-wasting-huge-amounts-electricity-when-not-active-use). *NRDC*. 14 July 2015. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20170302025532/https://www.nrdc.org/resources/home-idle-load-devices-wasting-huge-amounts-electricity-when-not-active-use) from the original on 2017-03-02. Retrieved 2017-03-01.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Kwac, J.; Flora, J. (2014). "Household Energy Consumption Segmentation Using Hourly Data". *IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid*. **5** (1): 420–430. [Bibcode](/source/Bibcode_(identifier)):[2014ITSG....5..420K](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014ITSG....5..420K). [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1109/TSG.2013.2278477](https://doi.org/10.1109%2FTSG.2013.2278477). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [33661350](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:33661350).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** ["Home Idle Load Action Guide"](https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/home-idle-load-action-guide.pdf) (PDF). *NRDC*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20170306032941/https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/home-idle-load-action-guide.pdf) (PDF) from the original on 2017-03-06. Retrieved 2017-03-05.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** Bensch, I.; Pigg, S. (2010). "Electricity Savings Opportunities for Home Electronics and Other Plug-In Devices in Minnesota Homes: A Technical and Behavioral Field Assessment". *Energy Center of Wisconsin*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** Chetty, M.; Tran, D (2008). "Getting to green: Understanding resource consumption in the home". *Proceedings of the 10th international conference on Ubiquitous computing*. pp. 242–251. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1145/1409635.1409668](https://doi.org/10.1145%2F1409635.1409668). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781605581361](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781605581361). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [22189106](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:22189106).

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Home idle load](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_idle_load) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_idle_load?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.