The Red, White, and Green

Photo via Flickr: Colbs

Note: This post was originally published on 6.1.09.

Like most Americans dealing with the recession, my husband and I have been looking for ways to cut costs in our household budget. We tried giving up cable, but weren’t actually saving much, thanks to Time Warner Cable’s sneaky pricing packages that drove up the cost of our internet connection once we downgraded to network TV and the fact that we ended up going out to the movies more often than usual since we no longer had a DVR on which to record our favorite programs. After three months without cable and the last three consecutive Saturday nights spent playing Trivial Pursuit (not a bad way to pass an evening, but how many Jack Nicklaus Sports & Leisure questions can one really answer?), my husband decided enough was enough and negotiated with Time Warner’s cancellation department to win back our cable and DVR for a full $30 less a month than we were originally paying. We’ll make up the dollars somewhere else — as an environmental blogger, I need to stay up-to-date with Renovation Nation, right?

But now that we have the DVR back after all those months of quiet, I notice something I never did before: That darn thing is always on, humming in the background. And while we have all our other electronics on power strips that can be shut off to stop the flow of phantom power when they’re not being used, I’m not sure that the DVR can be shut off as well. I’ve heard rumors that because of software bugs, the DVR needs to be on 24/7. But according to Energy Efficient Choices, DVRs use anywhere from 12 to 20 watts in standby mode alone; that’s a lot of wasted energy. Is it really bad to power down the DVR at night (when our programs aren’t being recorded anyway)?

To answer that question, I call Time Warner. The representative in the technical department tells me that it’s absolutely fine to shut off the DVR at night — since it’s a hard drive, our programs will still be saved. The only downside, she says, is that it’ll take 10-15 minutes to reboot in the morning when we turn it back on.

My only question now — which the representative didn’t have an answer to — is whether that morning boot-up uses more power than leaving the DVR on all night. RWG readers, any thoughts?

–Jennifer Grayson

Do this now: Since this post was originally published in June, I have been turning off the power strip connected to my DVR every night and have never encountered a problem (other than sometimes forgetting to turn it back on Sunday mornings and missing Meet the Press.) So go ahead: Unplug it!

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