Ideal Bite

What's lurking in your house after you turn off all the lights?

10.11.2006

Submitted by idealbite on Wed, 10/11/2006 - 5:00pm.

The Bite:

A "phantom load" is the energy that's sapped by appliances when they're plugged in, but not on. Use power strips or manually unplug DVD players, computers and cell phone chargers to save electricity from disappearing without a trace.

The Benefits:

Save big on your energy bills. In the average home, 40% of all electricity is used to power home appliances while they're turned off.
Lower emissions. If all phantom loads in US homes were stopped, we could shut down 17 power plants.
Power strips with surge protectors make it easy to "unplug" many appliances at once.

Personally Speaking:

NY Biter Cecily Channell uses a power strip that's hooked up to her entertainment system to turn the cable and TV on and off. At first, her roommates complained because it takes a little longer for the cable box to warm up ("They want their HGTV right now!"), but the electric bill savings they saw after a few months convinced 'em.

Wanna Try:

Isole Plug Load Control - the crème de la crème of powerstrips, it has 8 outlets and an insurance policy ($90).
Belkin 9-Outlet SurgeMaster - with 9 outlets ($30).
Intermatic Appliance Timer- use a timer when you're outta town ($21).
Craftsman Auto Switch - baby-sized surge protector option ($20).
Kill-A-Watt - find out how much energy various appliances are using ($29).
Just a word of advice: don't do this with your fridge...

Cecily Channell & Jim Hauswirth.

Cocktail Fact

Minnie Driver, who starred in the 2004 adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera, was reportedly upset when Beyonce was chosen to sing Minnie's song from the film at the Oscars.

Bang For The Bite

If 10,000 Biters plug our cable boxes into powerstrips that we turn off when not watching TV, we'll save about $300,000 per year.

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