Fighting Vampire Power

We are talking about electronic devices that have two pointy teeth, which latch into your wall sockets and drain electricity all day all night. These devices are lurking everywhere. Your TV, VCR, players, answering machine, cell phones, computers, and anything with small green or red lights or display are included.

There are ten ways to fight these vampires.

1. Unplug them, it is that simple. If there are not in use, pull the power cords out of the outlet.
2. Reduce them. They are fun, but you can remove unnecessary devices. At least consider advice number 6 below.
3. Use the off switch. Many devices have an off switch somewhere, so use it.
4. Plug your devices and chargers into a power strip. Turn off the power strip if you do not use it.
5. Remove chargers from the sockets when not in use. They draw electricity even when they are not charging.
6. Buy Energy Star qualified electronics. They use less electricity, even off mode.
7. Get a phone that tells you to unplug. Nokia plans to introduce new phones that say, "battery is full, please unplug the charger".
8. Try a smart strip for various computer accessories. This is convenient when it is not feasible to keep unplugging the devices.
9. Try to check Kill-A-Watt to find out about power consumption of your electronics. It will be a kind of fun to run around your house and find out how much electricity each device takes.
10. For a whole house project, try GreenSwitch, a wireless home energy control system. You can cut off power to varios electronics quite easily.

You will surprise on how much this vampire power draws your money. A study indicated that 40% of microwave ovens used more electricity to power the clock and the keypad in one year than actually heating food. Big screen TV's can draw up to 30 watts even when they are off. All of your devices can add as much as 10% to your energy bill. This is bad for the environment and your wallet.

This excellent article was summarized from How To Reduce Vampire Power.