By Deborah Williams and Rance Wall
Editor’s note: Rance is Deborah’s in-house energy vampire slayer and engineer, and did most of the research and testing for this article.
Also known as idle load, energy vampires consume power when devices and appliances are plugged into outlets, even though the devices and appliances are in the off mode. This wastes energy and money and contributes to climate change.
Idle loads account for nearly $200 per American households per year or approximately $26 billion. In California, energy vampires can consume up to 23% of an average household’s annual electricity use.
Fortunately, there are many effective ways to help slay energy vampires.
A great way to start is to do a quick inventory of our major energy vampires. These six are among the worst offenders and can be reduced through simple, DIY changes:
Refrigerators/freezers in garages or basements (not kitchens); TV and amps; TV related boxes (Cable/DVR); Gaming consoles; Computers and their peripherals (monitors, printers, external hard drives, speakers, etc.) and Electronics (phone, tablet, etc.) power adapters, and USB hubs.
Then it is easy, relatively inexpensive and effective to make some simple changes.
To begin with, go ahead and unplug devices that you no longer use or use very rarely such as a TV or TV box in a guest bedroom, or a second refrigerator/freezer in the garage that is not used very often (once you empty it of perishable items!). Also, before you leave your house for extended periods of time such as a vacation it makes sense to unplug all of the six electronic devices listed above (unless you will be using any of them remotely).
Another cost-free strategy is to change the computer power settings. Computers allow you to determine how long the monitor(s) and the computer stay active after you stop using it. You can set the monitor(s) to turn off and the computer to go into the power saving “sleep” mode.
A good next step is to install basic on/off power switches or use a simple power strip that can be turned off with one switch. This is a good option for TVs, speaker bars and other TV accessories.
Alternatively, install smart power switches. This type of low-cost power strip can remotely turn off all items associated with a TV, computer or a game console.
There’s more! Consider opting for a cloud-based DVR service. All the TVs in your house can access this system and some households can get rid of multiple DVR boxes, which are big energy vampires.
While all these strategies might not be practical for you and your family, we are all able to adopt at least a few, which will reduce our carbon footprint and save money.
Finally, we know that vampires do not like the sun, so you can avoid energy vampires altogether by using solar powered lights and cameras outside. Reasonably priced, solar powered lights and cameras last for years and do not add any additional costs to your electricity bills. Solar powered outdoor holiday lights are another way to save money on your electricity bill.
For a deeper dive, the California Energy Commission has issued a detailed report that highlights two excellent tools to help you reduce energy vampires. The first is the Dr. Power App, which is available on the web and on your smart phone with iOS or Android. This app allows each of us to inventory our home, identify every device plugged into an outlet and estimate the amount of electricity being drained by energy vampires.
You will likely be very surprised by how much energy is being consumed this way.
The second tool is the informational web portal, AskDrPower.com, which provides additional information on how to save energy, and allows you to pose questions to energy experts.
The bottom line is this: slaying energy vampires can be fun and rewarding for our pocketbooks and the planet.