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BANG FOR THE BITE
If 10,000 Biters plug their cable box into power strips that automatically turn off when they're not watching TV, we'll save a collective $300,000 per year.
COCKTAIL FACT
In 2004, the FDA approved a request to market leeches as medical devices (they secrete a chem that helps with blood clotting).
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home › tip library › Phantom Loads
What's eating away at your cash reserves without your knowledge?
The Bite
No, we're not talkin' couch cushions. A phantom load is the energy that's sapped by appliances when they're plugged in, but not on. Plug your devices into power strips that you switch off each night to achieve energy symbiosis.The Benefits
- Less bank account-leeching. 40% of the electricity used to power home electronics is consumed while they're turned off.
- Less parasitic exploitation of the earth's resources. If we averted phantom loads in all U.S. homes, we could shut down 17 power plants.
- It's easier than contracting malaria. Power strips with surge protectors make it easy to "unplug" many appliances at once.
Personally Speaking
All of our offices use power strips, and we love clicking the off switch at night since it means that happy hour is right around the corner.Wanna Try?
- Smart Strip Power Strip - smarty-pants device that senses when electronics are off, then "unplugs" them; also has space for "always on" appliances such as clocks and the fridge ($40).
- Belkin SurgeMaster - has nine outlets, three phone-line inputs, and safety covers for the kids ($29).
- Intermatic Appliance Timer - a timer that turns off lamps and electronics; use it when you're outta town ($5).
- Kill-a-Watt - find out how much energy various appliances are using ($24).
Apr 07,2008
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All editorial suggestions in this tip are the result of testing and a preference for the tip topic. No advertiser has paid to have its company referenced in the tip. For more information, please read our Editorial Policy.
The Phantom of the Office
Think the bad day-trading you've been doing out of your home office is the only thing that's been losing you money? Think again. That cell phone charger you have plugged in perpetually, that wireless printer that is always on - blue light glowing in the night - and that computer you never shut down...they are all culprits in the neverending drain on your bank account.
Unplug, people. Get a surge protector strip with an on/off switch, and click that puppy off whenever you are not in the office.
The end. By Heather.
-Heather...off to sing some "Think of Me" and "Masquerade"...
Biter Comments...
That silent sucking sound is partially from "bricks"; other devices have them built-in. The solution you provide, unplug 'em, is the only surefire way to stop it. It's a pain without one of the cool new smart power strips.
A big offender is the TV which takes a disproportionately large load while in standby mode. Switch it off! Better yet (if you don't have a DVR), turn off your cable-box, too. When I measured mine with my Kill-A-Watt it drew more than 50w, continuously! Yowza!
But there is good news...
Not all of these bricks are created equal. Their purpose is to transform the power coming out of the plug into a low voltage current.
The baddies do this with big coils of copper wire and some 1890's grade electrical magic. If they are warm to the touch, they are the baddies.
The good ones are called "switching converters". Whereas old fashioned bricks consume an average 1.8 watts when not being used, switching power transformers consume between 100 to 200 milliwatts (1 watt = 1000 milliwatts), which is somewhere between 5x to 20x less power than standard transformers.
If your (American) house is typical, you have 19 of these devices plugged in. If all were old-style bricks, that's more than 30w, 365 days a year. Multiply by 110 million American households. It turns out to be a lot.
Switching transformers are a little more expensive, which is why you don't see them everywhere ... yet.
However, New EnergyStar standards require small electronics to draw a small enough amount of energy to effectively force new products to use them. iPods and iPhones have them, for one.
Extra bonus: they are much smaller and lighter than the bricks.
We bought a Kill-A-Watt and WOW does it help! We've quickly identified 2 small appliances that are load hogs and should be replaced with more efficient models. They are not real old and seem to work fine, but are using much more energy than necessary for the job at hand.
My husband has checked just about everything from the sump-pump to the nightlights and maded notes for future purchases, as well as unplugged un-nessary phantom loads.
We learned that even the toaster uses energy when it is plugged in and not in use.
Do all power strips "unplug" your devices when they're switched off?
Mary: the powerstrip only unplugs your devices when the powerstrip itself is turned off.... you have to buy a powerstrip with one of those little glowing red 2-way switches. a powerstrip without a switch is basically pointless, unless you like crawling under the couch to manually unplug it from the socket. ;)
For all the folks who posted above looking for more information on how the Smart Strips work, I'd like to share this short, simple video that we created to visually answer just these sorts of questions: http://earthaidkit.com/smartstripvideo.php
We do also have two models of Smart Strips available on our online store ( http://earthaidkit.com ) at a lower price than the stores highlighted in today's tip. We also have on offer a variety of other energy efficiency products and tools - all of which we'll FedEx anywhere in the continental U.S. for $5 for any order (which we call an Earth Aid Kit) containing products from at least four categories of home energy efficiency.
As outrageous as the waste from vampire loads is, your statement, "In the average home, 40% of all electricity is used to power electronics while they're turned off," grossly overstates the level of the problem. Would that it could be so easy to reduce my electric consumption by 40% by simply disconnecting all my vampires. The actual household amount runs about 5 to 15%, which is inexcusable enough. All the vampires in my house, if never unplugged and not adjusting for when the applicance is in use, amount to 8.6% of my bill. (There are some I cannot easily unplug, such as my GE stove, my dishwasher, built-in microwave, etc.)
Recently brought to my attention is a study in California by the Lawerence Berkeley Lab that estimates an average of 13% per CA household for feeding of vampires. Locally we in Northern VA see results lower than 10% unless there is a set top box or two in a home. Otherwise, our homes, which are primarily heated by natural gas, are loosing about 10% or less to the vampires. The share of total vampire load in all electric homes would of course be considerably lower.
Please correct your 40% figure to one supported by empirical data. The Lawrence Berkeley figure seems to be well documented and thorough. The report title is "Low-Power Mode Energy Consumption in California Homes."
Digital HD set top boxes with record capability are often as high as 45 watts when turned to "off". Try to live without set top boxes and unplug ones in rooms not used. According to the Lawrence Lab report, mini stereos and powered subwoofers are heavy users. One of our neighbors reported a Bose AV 28 Media Center using 15 watts when turned to "off".
Always buy Energy Star when available and look for appliances with true off switches, usually a European brand such as Bosch or NAD. Energy Star standards for set top boxes is anticipated to go into effect next January.
One final thought: a set top box using 45 watts when "off", uses as much energy in a year as it takes to power a new Energy Star frig for about 10 months. Many households have multiple set top boxes. One conclusion is that all the progress in refrigeration efficiency technology over the past 25 years has been defeated by the unconscienable indifference of the set top box manufacturuers and their proprietary service providers, Cox, Comcast, Dish Network, etc. I am not aware of any with a true off switch.
"If 10,000 Biters plug their cable box into power strips that automatically turn off when they're not watching TV, we'll save a collective $300,000 per year."
If the above is true -- and I have no reason to believe that it isn't -- then I have an idea -- get rid of your cable box! A few years ago, my cable company was asking for people who didn't either need or want their converter box to return them to the company. At the time, I called my cable company and asked about this, and was told that the only reasons I would need a converter box is if: 1) I subscribed to premium channels; 2) I ordered pay-per-view programming; and/or 3) My TV was so old that it wasn't cable-ready. So, since I didn't meet any of those criteria, I took my box back to the cable office and I've never regretted it. I didn't need it anyway, and without the box, I have the flexibility of being able to tape off one channel while watching a different channel. I LIKE that! No box? No problem! You don't need so many channels, anyway. So, for anyone else for whom this a viable option, I highly recommend it.
I have real results (pictures of my Kill-A-Watt readout :-). One smart strip hooked up to one computer will save me a constant (utterly wasted) drain of 14 watts over the roughly 20 hours a day I don't use the computer. Want pictures and details, see my full review at http://fivepercent.us/. I am not selling these things or making any money from this. But I think I demonstrate that the savings are real, and of course they are multiplied when aggregated over many houses.
Tom
PHOTO ALBUMS
Posted by: Megan | April 07, 2008 at 07:13 AM