The vampires aren’t looking for tricks or treats anymore. They’re looking for sneaky ways to suck energy. These energy vampires hide in your home and quietly drain electrical sockets through unused appliances, devices and chargers. You rarely see them. But over time the slow trickle of wasted energy can add up.
A 2015 study by the National Resources Defense Council calculates standby power takes a big bite out of the national electric bill, accounting for 23 percent of the electricity consumed in the average U.S. home. By their estimate, you’re paying nearly a quarter of your utility bill for no reason.
In the 70,000 homes NRDC studied, the report shows an average of 65 vampire loads. These included a long list: appliances, chargers, computing gear, garage-door openers, game consoles, DVRs, and TVs — any slumbering product awaiting your touch to awaken it for use. Some are impractical to unplug, but others can be easily vanquished.
Our increasing technology dependence suggests the energy vampire invasion is here to stay. Digital video recorders are one of the most common standby users of home electricity, sucking up “stand by” energy and waiting to record. Game consoles are also ones to watch, using ten times more energy than streaming units, like Roku or Apple TV, which are more efficient.
As builders construct more energy efficient homes and electric use for big systems like heating, cooling and ventilation goes down, vampire loads may become a more noticeable problem. Luckily, there are some easy tricks toward the treat of cutting down unnecessary energy use.
Here are a few ideas to help stake those energy vampires:
Many of us have one or more cellphone or small device chargers to make sure others can get in touch with us. Just dangling, unattached, each charger continues to pull a trickle of energy. When they’re not in use, unplug the chargers at the office, in your car, and at home. Also, unplug your gear when it’s fully charged.
Next tackle bigger energy wasters, the ones with standby settings. Today the average home holds an average of 25 consumer electrical gadgets. With so many power-hungry devices around, often snoozing on standby, the energy waste adds up.
Check your electronics for energy-saving settings and make sure they’re enabled. It might take a bit longer for them to turn back on, but they won’t be sucking energy while not in use. Smart power strips can also help. When the primary device, like the TV or computer are turned off, the smart strip will turn off all the extras, like the DVD player or printer.
Another way to put energy vampires to sleep, is to turn off “wake up” features. Similar to a stand-by setting, these features pull a trickle of energy all the time to keep devices ready to turn on instantly. An easy way to tell is to look for the soft glow of standby lights on anything plugged in. If it’s a device that doesn’t need to stay plugged in, unplug it and stop the slow trickle of energy.
This list should get you started. Of course there are some continuous-load phantoms you can do little about such as doorbells, clocks, microwaves, landline phones and anything cooling food.
But, when you’re home alone in the dark, stay on the lookout for those blue and red eyes peering out of the blackness. They’re telling you “off” doesn’t mean zero power consumption.
Energy Adviser is written by Clark Public Utilities. Send questions to ecod@clarkpud.com or to Energy Adviser, c/o Clark Public Utilities, P.O. Box 8900, Vancouver, WA 98668.
