In 1998 an initial study by Alan Meier, a staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in Berkeley, California estimated that standby power accounted for approximately 5% of total residential electricity consumption in America. This was estimated to add up to more than $3 billion in annual energy costs.  According to America's Department of Energy, national residential electricity consumption in 2004 was 1.29 billion megawatt hours (MWh) with an assumption of 5% wastage, which would mean 64 million MWh or the equivalent to the output of eighteen typical power stations. The DoE continues to seek opportunities for energy savings with external power supplies in the US. While past regulation focused primarily on active mode efficiencies, recent regulations have added a focus on no-load power consumption. The standards implemented in 2007 by the US government will avoid about 198.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions of about 39 million automobiles. More stringent standards proposed in 2014 that became effective in 2016 are estimated to help save consumers an equivalent to the annual electricity use of 6.5 million homes.