Does your house have vampires?

When I say "vampire," I don't mean the hypnotic power of some black-caped, white-fanged Transylvanian. I’m talking about the electricity your home electronics and appliances suck out of the power grid when you're not using them. Of course I realize that our TV’s have a vampire like affect on all of us and can turn us into zombies.

If you're a conscientious user of appliances and gadgets, you always turn them off when you're not using them. But many electronics don't actually go all the way off—they continue using "standby power." Some examples of features that require standby power are:

internal clocks and sensors;
external clock displays and panel display LEDs;
remote control sensors;
battery rechargers and power-conversion bricks;
communications between a base unit and a portable unit (as in a portable phone).

This post provides some statistics on how much vampire power is costing you and offers tips for reducing your vampire-power problem in the future.

POWER VAMPIRES TAKE A BITE OUT OF YOUR WALLET

The amount of standby power wasted varies among electronic equipment, but overall, the cost to consumers and businesses for all the electricity lost to vampire power in the US is estimated to be $4 billion annually. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates the global energy consumption due to standby power at between 200-400 terawatts per year.

Not all of this vampire power is truly wasted—after all, many of the features in modern electronics that require standby power are either critical for proper functioning of the unit or are associated with desirable features. Most wasted standby power is consumed by inefficient power supplies and components that are getting power unnecessarily. An Australian study of global standby power usage in electronic devices estimated that electronics manufacturers could reduce vampire power by 30% right off the bat just by using existing, better technologies—and with minimal additional cost to consumers.

WHERE DO THE VAMPIRES DWELL?

Exact figures on total losses to standby power are not available, but the most recent major survey on the subject estimated that in the United States, 5% of electricity usage is due to standby power. In Europe, the numbers run slightly higher: France at 7% and Germany and the Netherlands at 10% each. Australia comes in at 11%, Japan at 12%.

Depending on the efficiency of your unit's design, the standby power use can be minimal or substantial. And even though home electronics aren't typically the biggest electricity users in a house, vampire power can still cost you up to 10% of your electric bill.

To some extent, vampire power is only one factor in overall power use for electronic devices. Different units can vary in their "in-use efficiency" too. So really, what we want to look at is the overall energy efficiency of the unit, whether it's off or on, and get an estimate of the total power likely to be consumed by a typical consumer over an average year.

HUNT DOWN THOSE BLOODY POWER DRAINERS!

One of the easiest ways to “see” many of the little vampires in your house is to turn off all the lights at night and see what’s still aglow. All of those little red or green glowing lights on various power bricks or appliances are all taking in some power. If you feel a power brick that is unhooked it will still feel warm, because they are designed to run as long as they are plugged in. If it’s not powering the gadget that it came with the power that is being used is being run through a resistor inside the brick – that’s why it’s hot.

There's a cool little gadget available that can help you determine which of your plug-in items are the most inefficient power consumers. It's the Kill-A-Watt electricity usage monitor. You just plug it into the wall outlet and then plug your electrical device into the Kill-a-Watt monitor. It will allow you to assess how efficient the electrical device is. You can calculate the item's electrical cost by the day, week, month, or year to help you decide whether a more efficient model would save you money over time. Check out the Kill-A-Watt monitor at Amazon.com

DRIVE A STAKE THROUGH THE HEARTS OF THE VAMPIRES!

A great way to deal with all of the little power bricks that can surround a home computer is to use one of the new smart power strips available at the ChooseRenewables web site and likely at some stores. Of course, you could always just turn off your old power strips; but, that’s why somebody had to invent smart power strips, because we aren’t always smart enough to do it ourselves.

If you are buying new equipment or appliances, look for the Energy Star rating on them, which means that they are at least efficient when they are operating. Of course some of the stand-by features just can’t be switched off, like the remote sensors or the telephone base station to handset communications link. Turning them off would disable the device, so focus upon the things that you have constantly plugged in but don’t constantly need to use or have available for use. All the computer stuff, including printers that you aren’t using at the moment; the phone chargers; the battery pack chargers for power tools; the VCR or DVD player that is just sitting there waiting for the next time that you rent a movie (remember it’s remote control sensor).

Just think about the statistic of 5-10% of your electric bill being sucked up by these little vampires. Maybe that will spur you into action. I know it has me looking at ways to completely power down my computer set ups, which at last count sported 18 little power bricks just sucking power away even when the systems are off. Yikes, I’m overrun with Vampires!