2. • Did you know that There's a vampire on the loose and he’s
sucking the content out of your walls Whether you're at work,
at home or out on the town, this vampire is sucking the
content out of your walls and
harming the environment a
bit too. But, there's no
need to barricade the
house and stock up on
garlic just yet. This
vampire works entirely
though your electrical
outlets and slaying this
monster can be as easy as
pulling a few plugs.
The villain in question is vampire power, also known
as standby power .
3. You can also find it referred
to as
• vampire energy
• leaking energy
• wall waste.
• phantom load
• leaking electricity
• Wall watts
• Standby power
4. • The term refers to the electricity many electronic and
appliances waste just by being plugged in to the wall (even if
they're switched off). After all, what do you think your cell-
phone charger does all day while it's plugged into the wall?
it's been using electricity – even though it’s had nothing to
charge all day.
• Individually, your battery chargers may not put that much
strain on the local power plant, but the big picture is far more
troubling.
• In The United States alone, vampire power costs consumers
more than $3 billion a year.
• Over time, many microwaves and televisions actually
consume more electricity during the hours they're not in use
than the times you're actually using them to heat up dinner
and watch your favorite show.
5. • In the average U.S. home, 25 percent of electricity use in
home occurs while the products are off
• Vampire power usually include the following:
• One a gadget, such as a cell-phone AC adapter, constantly
supplies a charge, even if the batteries are fully charged or if
nothing is plugged into it. Many AC adapters,
nicknamed wall watts by some critics, waste as much as 50
percent of the power they use.
• The gadget uses electricity to power a display screen, an
external time display. In some cases, this power usage is
justified. For instance, your refrigerator needs to monitor
temperature levels in order to power up and down at
appropriate times. But When it comes to your radio however,
it's not as easy to justify a constant power drain.
6. • Three the gadget never fully shuts down so that it's ready
to use at a moment's notice. Many printers spend hours in
standby mode, waiting to receive signals from connected
computers.
• Before you even think about pick up your remote control,
the TV is already using electricity to power the sensor that
will receive the signal.
• Vampire power has been on the rise during the past
decade, thanks to the proliferation of rechargeable
gadgets, computer networks and devices with standby
power functions.
• The United States consumes 26 percent of the world's
energy. Of that energy, approximately 5 percent is vampire
power.
7. • To put that in perspective, that's roughly as much electricity
as the entire country of Italy consumes in a year.
• All this energy use enacts quite a hefty toll on the
environment. Coal-burning power plants produce carbon
dioxide, a leading cause of global worming. Therefore,
less vampire power translates to lower carbon emissions.
Even plants that run on nuclear or hydroelectric power
produce emissions that can lead to smog and acid rain.
8. • DESKTOP COMPUTER: $6.20
• LCD COMPUTER MONITOR: $1.00
• COMPUTER SPEAKER SYSTEM: $5.16
• INKJET PRINTER: $4.28
• DVD PLAYER: $3.60
• MICROWAVE OVEN: $2.48
• 50in flat screen TV: $5.00
• Xbox $2.18
• Wii $2.31
• A month
The amount the fooling electronic wasted just by
being plugged in
9. • How can you help control vampire power and lower my
electric bill?
• If you're not using an electronic device, unplug it --
that's the blunt approach to fighting vampire power.
• You can make this step even easier with a surge
protector. Plug multiple items in the strip and simply
• turn it off when you're not using the devices. If the
strip is off, you don't have to worry about leaking
electricity.
• Electronic devices may cause vampire power, but
there are also a number of gadgets on the market
designed to help cut down on unnecessary power
loss.
10. • An energy-saving surge
protectors feature a master-
slave arrangement, similar
to the set up of many
electronic devices. If you
aren't using your computer,
why have power traveling to
your speakers, printer and
other accessories? The
smart strip lets you
designate one device as the
"master" and several
secondary devices as
"slaves". If the master
device is off or drawing only
standby power, then the
slave outlets don't get any
power either.
