Do you know that vampires live in your home and office? I don’t mean the ones with satin capes and polished fangs who walk at night and drink blood for dinner. I mean the ones which suck electricity from the power grid and drive up your energy bill. Vampire appliances are those which continue to draw power even when they are turned off. These vampires flourish, and cloves of garlic will not help.
Televisions, coffeemakers, stereos, microwaves, DVD players--anything which has a clock display or a remote control is a vampire. These appliances use a microchip to go into a suspended mode, rather than turning off completely. Even devices which seem insignificant, such as electric toothbrushes or cell phone chargers, are raising your energy costs. Each item seems unimportant on its own, but cumulatively they can send a household’s power use soaring.
The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that each home has 10 to 50 of these appliances, and they account for at least 10 percent of our energy costs. Offices are particularly susceptible to vampire electronics, because they might contain several computers, printers, scanners, or fax machines. In 2001 President Bush ordered federal agencies to rid their offices of vampires by purchasing electronic devices which use no more than one watt in standby mode.
How much electricity is being wasted by our TIVOs and Blackberries? According to http://www.energystar.gov/, the amount of energy drawn varies from device to device. A DVD player in standby mode draws up to 75 percent of the power it uses when turned on. A cordless phone sucks up to 66 percent, but a television uses only 25 percent. The annual cost of vampire power in the US is estimated to be as much as three billion dollars.
Last summer, the California Assembly passed the Vampire Slayer Act of 2006. Aside from having a great name, the bill has a beneficial purpose. It requires manufacturers to place information about their product’s energy consumption in standby mode on their labels. Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, the author of the bill, claims that vampires cost citizens an average of $200 per home per year.
What can we do in our homes and offices to stop these energy suckers? Unplug appliances when they are not in use. Plug electronic devices into power strips and turn the rocker switch on and off manually. Buy a Smart Strip for your computer which will sense when the main device is powered down and will automatically turn off the peripherals. Invest in a gadget called a Kill-a-Watt power meter which measures the exact amount of power used by an appliance, so that you can determine which electronic devices should be unplugged or replaced. When replacing an appliance, buy an EnergyStar.
Take charge of your energy use and slay these electronic vampires. Buffy will be proud of you.
Televisions, coffeemakers, stereos, microwaves, DVD players--anything which has a clock display or a remote control is a vampire. These appliances use a microchip to go into a suspended mode, rather than turning off completely. Even devices which seem insignificant, such as electric toothbrushes or cell phone chargers, are raising your energy costs. Each item seems unimportant on its own, but cumulatively they can send a household’s power use soaring.
The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that each home has 10 to 50 of these appliances, and they account for at least 10 percent of our energy costs. Offices are particularly susceptible to vampire electronics, because they might contain several computers, printers, scanners, or fax machines. In 2001 President Bush ordered federal agencies to rid their offices of vampires by purchasing electronic devices which use no more than one watt in standby mode.
How much electricity is being wasted by our TIVOs and Blackberries? According to http://www.energystar.gov/, the amount of energy drawn varies from device to device. A DVD player in standby mode draws up to 75 percent of the power it uses when turned on. A cordless phone sucks up to 66 percent, but a television uses only 25 percent. The annual cost of vampire power in the US is estimated to be as much as three billion dollars.
Last summer, the California Assembly passed the Vampire Slayer Act of 2006. Aside from having a great name, the bill has a beneficial purpose. It requires manufacturers to place information about their product’s energy consumption in standby mode on their labels. Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, the author of the bill, claims that vampires cost citizens an average of $200 per home per year.
What can we do in our homes and offices to stop these energy suckers? Unplug appliances when they are not in use. Plug electronic devices into power strips and turn the rocker switch on and off manually. Buy a Smart Strip for your computer which will sense when the main device is powered down and will automatically turn off the peripherals. Invest in a gadget called a Kill-a-Watt power meter which measures the exact amount of power used by an appliance, so that you can determine which electronic devices should be unplugged or replaced. When replacing an appliance, buy an EnergyStar.
Take charge of your energy use and slay these electronic vampires. Buffy will be proud of you.
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