We can all conserve energy

The push to improve battery function — as reported in the

July 19 story “Energy Department targets vastly cheaper batteries to clean up grid” — is laudable.

However, no energy plan discussion is complete without mentioning the role of energy conservation. The ability to save power in batteries must be matched by willingness to limit excess usage for the grid to end up cleaner.

In addition to individual responsibility (turning off stuff you are not using), this requires accountability from electronics producers. The government should extend the Energy Star appliance rating system to cover common electronics such as phones and computers. This system has effectively pressured appliance makers into competing to reduce energy waste, and most of us now wouldn’t buy a major appliance without checking its annual estimated energy need

(or a car without checking its fuel economy). So where is the easy-to-compare electronics energy usage rating?

Try this home experiment: Track your smartphone’s average battery charge for a week. Then, do so while utilizing the phone’s “low power mode” and see how much extra battery life you could have. Note that low power mode must be manually reset immediately after each charging.

My iphone 11 averages a day of power in default mode but 2-3 days in low power mode. So I can halve my phone’s daily energy footprint simply by using low power mode as its default setting.

Imagine the impact of a transparent electronics Energy Star-type system to encourage electronics producers to conserve power.

Sascha Horowitz, Las Vegas