Over recent years the electronics industry has worked hard to increase the efficiency of new products and also reduce the light-load and standby power consumption. The aim of this is to reduce the overall energy consumption of the device during its lifetime.
A number of industry standards such as the European Commission directive for ecodesign and the US Department of Energy Level VI define the minimum efficiency for power supplies at various load conditions.
Power supplies must be designed to comply with these efficiency standards and power supply manufacturers must test and report the efficiency of the device at various load conditions. This white paper briefly explains the implications of reducing power consumption at light loads.
