{"id":795,"date":"2012-08-01T13:01:14","date_gmt":"2012-08-01T21:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.greentechgazette.com\/?p=795"},"modified":"2012-08-01T13:01:47","modified_gmt":"2012-08-01T21:01:47","slug":"vampire-energy-what-its-costing-you-and-how-to-prevent-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greentechgazette.com\/index.php\/energy-conservation\/vampire-energy-what-its-costing-you-and-how-to-prevent-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Vampire Energy: What It’s Costing You and How To Prevent It"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong>By Guest Blogger Justin Bencsko<\/span><\/p>\n

The phenomenon of Vampire Power is costing American households millions of dollars every single day.\u00a0\u00a0 Studies estimate that about 5-10% of the average household’s energy bill comes from this Vampire Power.\u00a0 Calculate that to a dollar amount across the country and you have about $4 billion in wasted spending every year!\u00a0 (Some estimates go as high as $10 billion)<\/p>\n

Vampire Power is just a name for the power that your electronic devices waste while they are not being used.\u00a0 For example when your television is off it is still sucking power.\u00a0 When your computer is sitting idle, it\u2019s still using energy.\u00a0 Phone chargers, laptop chargers, routers, appliances large and small- the list could go on and on.<\/p>\n

There are a number of things you can do to reduce this wasted energy.\u00a0 For example EnergyStar<\/a> appliances are much more energy efficient, using around half the energy as regular units.\u00a0 If you are in need of a new appliance it would be wise to at least consider getting an EnergyStar product.\u00a0 The other big thing you can do is to make sure you unplug anything which you aren\u2019t using, in turn getting rid of this vampire loss.\u00a0 This is simple for things like phone chargers, a toaster, or coffee pot, since you only have to worry about a single plug.\u00a0 When it comes to something like your home entertainment system though, this becomes much more of a hassle.<\/p>\n

The biggest culprit of this Vampire Power drain is, in fact, your home entertainment system.\u00a0 Think about how many things you have plugged in, all of which drain power.\u00a0 Televisions, video game consoles, cable boxes, satellite boxes, DVD players, sub woofers, audio receivers- they all waste power while not being used.\u00a0 A plasma TV alone can cost $165 a year in Vampire Power drain according to the department of energy.\u00a0\u00a0 Your Xbox or PS3 isn’t much better, costing upwards of $70 a year potentially.\u00a0 In short- it isn’t cheap to leave your home entertainment system plugged in all the time.<\/p>\n

So what should you do about it? Well the simplest answer is unplug everything in your entertainment system when you aren\u2019t using it!\u00a0 Now how you go about doing that is really what we are worried about.<\/p>\n

Option one would involve manually unplugging every single device that requires power.\u00a0\u00a0 If you have no problem doing that every time you want to watch some TV, than more power to you.\u00a0 For most of us though there has to be a better option than squeezing your arm into a tiny nook behind the TV to get 6 different plugs out of the wall every single time you want to use the TV.<\/p>\n

Option two which makes this a little bit easier would be to buy a normal, everyday power strip.\u00a0 Instead of reaching behind your television to unplug all your electronics individually, a power strip would allow you to control everything from one switch in a much more accessible location.\u00a0 This is perfect if you are conscious about remembering and don\u2019t mind walking up to the TV to flip the switch.\u00a0 If you are like me though and would definitely forget to do this half the time let alone make sure your kids remember, there are ways to make this even easier.<\/p>\n

Option three would involve some type of device or power strip which would control power either automatically or remotely, making this process even simpler.\u00a0 I did some research and there are a few options:<\/p>\n