"The Super Bowl is known for unpredictable half-time shows, fabulous TV commercials and, of course, football. But how about energy savings?"
"Opower, an energy consulting firm, compared the electricity use of 145,000 American households during last year’s Super Bowl with consumption on other winter Sundays when the weather was similar. Power use was down by as much as 7.7 percent, depending on the region of the country. And in the West, where the game ended early in the evening, electricity consumption was depressed until bedtime.
The precise reasons are hard to identify, but apparently the increased reliance on some appliances – running a big-screen TV, opening and closing the refrigerator – were outweighed by other changes in routine, like not running the clothes dryer or the vacuum cleaner."
Matthew L. Wald reports for the New York Times' Green blog January 28, 2013.
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