Question of the Week: What are your energy vampires?
Posted on October 27th, 2008 - 10:30 AMEach week we ask a question related to the environment. You can answer the poll or let us know your thoughts as comments. Feel free to respond to earlier comments or post new ideas. Previous questions.
Vampires could be lurking the shadows of your home. Energy vampires continuously suck energy from electrical outlets and unnecessarily waste energy. These vampires won’t drain your blood; they’ll drain your pockets! Energy vampires cost Americans almost $10 billion a year, and account for almost 11 percent of all U.S. energy use!
Energy vampires are the electronics, adapters, and appliances with fangs in your outlet, sucking power even when apparently not in use or “off.” For example, a TV always uses a little power so it can always receive the “on” signal from the remote control. Adapters, too, use power even when not plugged into their device. You can easily check your home for energy vampires using your power meter. Turn everything off as you normally do, as if you were leaving for the day - but don’t unplug anything you don’t normally unplug. Now, look at your power meter. What do you have for vampires sucking energy from your home?
What are your energy vampires?
(en español)
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En español: Cada semana hacemos una pregunta relacionada al medio ambiente. Por favor comparta con nosotros sus pensamientos y comentarios. Siéntase en libertad de responder a comentarios anteriores o plantear nuevas ideas. Preguntas previas.
Podrían haber vampiros al asecho en las penumbras de su hogar. Los vampiros de energía continuamente chupan energía de los interruptores eléctricos y malgastan innecesariamente la energía. Estos vampiros no le chupan la sangre. Al contrario, ¡están vaciando sus bolsillos! Los vampiros de energía cuestan a los estadounidenses alrededor de $10 mil millones cada año lo cual representa cerca del 11 por ciento de toda la energia usada en EE.UU.!
Los vampiros de energía son los efectos electrónicos, adaptadores, enseres eléctricos cuyos colmillos clavan al interruptor y chupan la energía aún cuando aparentemente estos aparatos no están en uso o está apagado (”off”). Por ejemplo, un televisor siempre usa un poco de energía para que pueda recibir la señal de “on” del control remoto. Los adaptadores también usan energía aún cuando no se le haya enchufado el efecto electrónico. Usted puede verificar si hay vampiros de energía en su hogar utilizando un medidor de energía. Apague todo como normalmente hace como si fuera estar fuera de la casa por todo el día, pero no desenchufe nada. Entonces mire su medidor de energía. ¿Cuáles son algunos de los vampiros que están chupando la energía de su hogar?
¿Qué son los vampiros de energía?
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Question of the Week
October 27th, 2008 at 11:03 am
First? Cell phone chargers left in 24/7.
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October 27th, 2008 at 11:46 am
This is interesting. However, you left out the main issue: how to minimize the drain. Knowing that not all appliances have easily accessible plugs or power receptacles, what is a good way to avoid the energy “sucking.”
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Awalker reply on October 27, 2008 1:53 pm:
You need to get this: http://www.amazon.com/Northern-Tool-Equipment-Switch-Wireless/dp/B0000ERN8H/ref=pd_sim_e_16
I use one of these to completely isolate and turn-off the TV, VCR, Stereo, and some minor decorations/game systems with one push of a remote button, nicely velcroed to the underside of the coffee table. Works perfectly.
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October 27th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Some “wall warts” are energy vampires, so aren’t. How can you tell? Well, when nothing has been attached to the wall wart for a couple hours, say your cell phone hasn’t been charging, then touch the wall wart and see if it feels warm or not. If it feels warm then it is wasting energy doing nothing. If it feels cool then it is not wasting electricity. Wall warts always feel warm when they are doing useful work — like charging your cellphone — that is not the issue. The issue is if they continue to waste energy when they are not doing useful work. Some wall warts waste energy, some don’t — know your warts! Likewise is that TV or cable TV box wasting energy when you are not using it? Touch it, especially around any vent holes and see if it feels warm, or if it has any fans running to blow the warm air out of it. If it feels warm when you haven’t used it for a couple hours then it is wasting energy. If it doesn’t feel warm, then it isn’t wasting any energy. Some electronic devices waste energy, some don’t — know your toys!
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October 27th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
biggest is the tv and all the electronics. we have TiVo that must be left on/standby all the time for it to work properly. I fight my husband to turn off the computer at night and he gets mad when I unplug stuff we’re not using like the ipod home.
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October 27th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
There are quite a few “energy vampires” out there – and they are rapidly increasing in our homes.
Consumer electronics, for example, play an increasingly large role in home energy consumption, accounting for about 5 percent of energy use. Believe it or not, about 40 percent of that electricity is consumed while the products are turned off.
Power adaptors, or “wall warts”, are those clunky black things you find on many electrical cords. You’ll notice that they stay warm even when their device is turned off. This is because they draw energy from the wall all the time. These devices can account for 5-20% of total home power consumption. In some homes they even exceed the traditional highest energy user, the fridge. Power vampires are the fastest growing power users in our residences.
You can decrease the amount of electricity you waste. A couple of Green Irene’s recommendations are below:
1. Consider owning a Kill-A-Watt meter to see what it costs to run various appliances per year. It’s also great for use with old appliances, which are costing more than you might think, or other high energy use items like aquariums, torchiers or light based art. Testing things with the Kill-A-Watt can become addictive.
2. Plug your adapters and other electronics into power strips and turn off the power strip when you are not using the devices. Some power strips even have remote switches you can put on your wall so you do not even have to bend down to turn them off.
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October 27th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Check out the press release for more info:
http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/d0cf6618525a9efb85257359003fb69d/a9f83e777a975e6d852574ef004e3ca7!OpenDocument
Or, http://www.energystar.gov has info.
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October 27th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
I would be interested to know if the 11 percent energy use mentioned in the post is just home use. What about commercial and public buildings such as schools and office buildings? Are they included in the 11 percent. In terms of eliminating an energy vampire one method I use is to plug everything into a surge protector or power strip. Then I just turn off everything with the power button on the strip; although this is not feasible for everything it does help some. (I noticed some one else just posted this suggestion too).
I made a post on commercial energy vampires at http://blog.exitsignwarehouse.com/18/energy-vampires-away-from-home/
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October 27th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
All this talk about the drain of appliances left plugged in and now I’m starting to re-think having a coffee pot with a timer.
You’d think manufacturers of chargers for cell phones would be smart enough to design, build and sell smart “anti-vampire” chargers.
Shouldn’t that become the next great regulatory avenue for EPA? Bolt on SD programs to EPA energy efficiency requirements that include cell phone chargers?
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October 28th, 2008 at 5:15 am
For me it will probably be the TV and cellphone chargers that drain most of the energy.
~Urbanwitch
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October 28th, 2008 at 8:14 am
computer and tv are the biggest unnecessary vampires. i shut them off, but should turn off the powerstrip as well. not everyone in the household cooperates with me.
also microwaves with digital displays are a huge drain. i heard that a microwave uses more energy to keep the clock working than it does to heat food! our cheapo microwave doesn’t have a clock.
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October 29th, 2008 at 5:35 am
Very interesting topic! Believe it or not, hair dryers are a HUGE energy drain even tho they are used rather infrequently & are not kept plugged into the wall, because of their high wattage. How much energy are you actually wasting with all these energy vampires tho?
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October 29th, 2008 at 8:35 am
What about the garage door opener? I assume since it has a remote it sucks energy all day. And to use the wall button it still needs to be plugged in. Does anyone know how much energy these waste? Times it by all the garages in America and I wonder? Not that I’d go back to the old lift up doors! And what about outdoor lights with photocells to automatically turn them on and off? I wonder how much energy these use? This would make a great science project for some high school students to spread the word!!!
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October 29th, 2008 at 9:50 am
We unplug everything we can when not in use - microwave, all chargers, TV, stereo, CD player, and anything with an indicator light - including powerstrips! I have not quantified my savings, but waste is waste no matter the magnitude. What I would like to find is a powerstrip (without indicator lights!), that has individually switched outlets - which would make it easier to completely switch off without having to yank the plug each time.
What’s the biggest ‘vampire’ of all? Probably your electric water heater, continuously reheating your water 24/7/365, just to keep up with tank cooling. We have a timer on ours, and a separate meter, and we pay less than $4 per month to heat our water (our kWh rate is about 8 cents).
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October 29th, 2008 at 11:24 am
Before everyone goes around unplugging everything in the house, one must consider the “power-up” usage and the ” power-up wear & tear” on the device. Home computers are a good example. Everytime you cut power to the computer it must be re-started; there is a surge of power at that point very much higher than normally used. And every time the power surge engages the hardware to do work, the hardware is one step closer to failure. There are also intangible safety and security considerations.
In energy use, carbon footprinting, or any other balancing act, one must look at the BIG picture.
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October 31st, 2008 at 8:41 am
Believe it or not, your refrigerator consumes a very big portion of your energy. Not a lot you can do there. Except to ensure that the condenser is kept clean. However, another big user is your hot water tank. It can be covered with an insulator, and have a timer put on it. If all of your family is away from home all day, you don’t need it to be heating the water all day. Set the timer so that you have hot water for the morning, then off. Then have it come back on shortly before people start returning home.
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