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Vampire energy could be nickel-and-diming you into the poor
house, while continuously sucking up the planet's natural
resources at a disturbing rate. This energy waste, dubbed
vampire energy, comes from everyday appliances like your TV,
microwave, VCR and video game player, and it happens while
they're turned off.
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A TV with a remote may use more energy during the 20
hours it is turned off than it does for the four hours
you watch it in the evening, according to the Department
of Energy.
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"Vampire energy loss" from appliances in passive
mode (the clock on your microwave) or standby mode (your VCR
scheduled to record something) account for 5-8 percent of
your home's total electricity usage per year, according to
the Department of Energy, which is equal to about one month's
electricity bill -- for every household in the United States.
Add that all up, and you get about 68 billion kilowatt-hours
of electricity wasted a year. That amounts to the electricity
generated by 37 power plants, at the expense of over 97 billion
pounds of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere.
"When a consumer thinks the device is off, it should
be using as little power as possible," said Alan Meier
of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in a Salon.com
article. "But in their haste to get products onto the
market, manufacturers don't make those modest design improvements,
and we, the consumers, pay the price in unnecessarily high
standby power use."
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That tiny clock on your coffee pot is a classic example
of something that uses vampire energy. To save money
and natural resources, unplug it when you're not using
it.
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Vampire Energy Costs Billions
The average VCR in standby mode costs you over $10 a year.
Your cordless phone base station just over $3. Taken alone,
that doesn't sound particularly alarming, but it adds up.
A plasma TV costs nearly $160 a year, just to run it in standby
mode. Your computer? About $34. And your game console around
$26.
According to the latest estimates, about 5 percent of the
electricity used in the United States goes to standby power,
and costs the United States about $4 billion a year. This
percentage, however, is on the rise, and it may reach 20 percent
by 2010, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
What Can You Do?
Fortunately, how much vampire energy you allow to be sucked
from your home is largely within your control. Here are the
top tips to stop vampire energy from costing you money, and
wasting electricity:
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Unplug appliances directly from the wall when you're
not using them. If you have several in one area (such
as a computer, printer and fax machine) attach them to
a power strip and then simply turn off the power switch.
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If you're not going to be using your computer for a
while, but you don't want to shut it down, turn off the
monitor. This will save much more energy than using a
screensaver (screensavers alone can cost you up to $100
a year).
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Reduce the brightness on your TV and computer screens
by half. This can reduce their energy usage by 30 percent.
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Turn off lights whenever you're not using them, and
use natural light as much as possible during the day.
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Unplug phone, toothbrush, PDA and portable tool chargers
from the wall when you're not using them.
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When purchasing appliances like a refrigerator or dishwasher,
look for the EnergyStar label. These appliances can sometimes
use half as much energy as other appliances.
Recommended Reading
How
to Do (and NOT Do) Your Laundry
How
to Beware of Emotional Vampires Intent on Draining You of
All Your Precious Emotional Strength
Sources
GOOD
Magazine
Salon.com
NRDC.org
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