Prevent Vampire Power from Stealing Energy from Your Home
Best Buy has declared October 30, 2008 as National Vampire Awareness Day to spread the word about “vampire power”.
Vampire power is the electricity that home appliances and other electronics consume while they are switched off or in a standby mode. Plasma TVs, computers, game consoles, DVRs and adapters for MP3 players and cell phones are just some of the worst offenders in terms of wasting energy. The costs of these energy suckers can go up to $1,000 per household per year.
Here are some tips to cut down on the wasted energy in your home:
- Use a power strip. Plug your chargers into a power strip and when you’re not using those chargers, turn the power strip off.
- Get unplugged: All of your chargers (cell phone, MP3, laptop, and even electric toothbrushes), continue to draw electricity even when the device is not charging. Only 5 percent of the power drawn by a cell phone charger is used to charge the phone - the other 95 percent is wasted when it is left plugged into the wall.
- Turn your computer off: Computers in sleep mode can cost an additional $70 per year. By completely shutting down your computer and printer when not in use you will not only save money, you will also help reduce the machine’s CO2 emissions 83 percent, to just 63 kg a year. If you are unable to do so, at least make sure the computer goes into a low-power sleep, standby or hibernate mode. And watch out for those screen savers; graphic intense screen savers can actually waste power.
- Look for the Star: The typical U.S. household spends about $1,300 on its home energy bills. ENERGY STAR qualified products including heating and cooling equipment can reduce that energy bill by up to 40 percent – a potential savings of hundreds of dollars each year.
To learn more, visit vampireawarenessday.com.
via MSL/Best Buy; Creative Commons image via Flickr
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POSTED IN: Frugal Living, Green Home
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