By Michael Smith
More or less all of our electronics are sucking up energy even if they are turned off or not being used. Some of the biggest culprits include here the television set, the computer, and the printer. Even an electric toothbrush is drawing energy when it is plugged in and sitting idle. Then again, you have to keep it charged somehow, I know.
On its own, the amount of “phantom power" used by one device might seem very small and insignificant, but when combined it all amounts to billions a year of wasted energy, nationwide, I mean. Obviously it won't be millions of whatever currency for an individual home alone, unless you are in Zimbabwe or other countries with a strange currency. According to the United States Department of Energy about three-quarters of the electricity used to power home electronics is consumed while the products are turned off.
The easiest and, I should think, also the most obvious thing that anyone can do unplug whatever they are not using in way of appliances. The prime candidates here include:
- The hand-held vacuum in its charging station
- rechargeable Power drills in their charging stations
- Automatic coffee makers
- The VCR that hasn't bee used in nearly a decade
- The TV that is collecting dust in the guest room
- The empty refrigerator in the garage
For the slightly more ambitious, buy a power strip at your local hardware store. Yes, it takes a little time up-front to plug everything into it, but you'll more than make up the time when you can cut all power with just the flip of a switch.
Clamping down on vampire power is one of the easiest ways to save money on your electricity bill (probably about 5 percent a month) and at the same time you pump less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. It may not seem like much, but it all adds up!
In the UK – and maybe also by now in the USA and elsewhere, one can purchase a device called “Bye, Bye, Standby” (and there are also derivatives around of the same) that can have all the appliances turned off by means of a remote control, and it is reckoned that if that is being used with all appliances such as TVs, PCs, chargers, etc., saving of £32 per year can be achieved. In other words, about as much as a set of 3 switchable plug-in devices cost of the “Bye, Bye, Standby” range. This bit of kit is for those that would have to clamber round the back of somewhere or beneath a desk or such in order to turn off power strips and such.
Another lot of vampires that suck energy in the home are the chargers for cell phones, and other such devices, and also the power supplies for small transistor radios and whatever else. They all draw power even if they are not in use.
Some of the chargers/power adapters for laptop computers, nowadays, seem to have become intelligent chargers and they will stop when the batteries are full and there is no other power drain, which is to say when the laptop is turned off. So far I have seen this, however, only with the newer models from Fujitsu Siemens.
So, kill those vampires. Drive a stake through their hearts by turning the power sources off.
© M Smith (Veshengro), October 2008
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