This paper discusses the issue of standby power in the Department of Energy's (DOE) residential appliance test procedures. Section 1 introduces the DOE's legislative mandate, briefly discusses the increase in standby power use in residential appliances, and describes the global scale of this energy use. Section 2 describes the differences in the definitions for standby power and measurement methodologies among industrial, national, and international organizations. Section 3 presents a more detailed, component-level discussion of the sources of standby power use. Section 4 presents broader changes that can reduce energy use on the U.S. building stock, including appliance design, changes in user behavior, and policy measures that may serve as good examples to follow. In Section 5, the paper lists recommendations for the ongoing revisions of the DOE test procedures for three residential appliances (dishwashers, clothes dryers, and clothes washers). Section 6 presents conclusions.