This might explain why your electricity bill is so high – CNET

Even when you turn off your electronics, they could still be wasting electricity. When you press the off switch, many electronics, like televisions, DVRs and satellite boxes, go into stand-by mode.

During stand-by mode electronics don’t turn off completely. They preform updates, record your favorite shows and generally just wait for you to come back, sucking up energy as they do. This is called stand-by power or phantom load. The energy lost is called vampire energy or leaking energy.

According to the US Department of Energy, your electricity wasters account for 10 percent or more of your electricity bill.

It would explain how Jason Cipriani ended up saving $840 per year on his electricity bill.

Televisions, DVRs and satellite boxes aren’t the only energy users. Chances are, you have several chargers around your home and they stay plugged in 24/7. Phone chargers use around .26 watts of energy per day when plugged in, but not in use. Laptop chargers also waste, using 4.42 watts when not in use and 29.48 watts when it’s plugged into a fully charged laptop.

Test your home for excess energy usage

Want to see if your home is affected by leaking energy? Turn off your AC or heating unit and your hot water heater. Now, turn off everything in your home, but leave them plugged in.

Then, go look at your electric meter box that’s typically located on the side of your home. Are the numbers still going up? If they are, that means that your devices are still sucking electricity.

Another, more straightforward approach is to use a device like the Kill-A-Watt or the Belkin WeMo Insight Switch, which let you measure energy usage when the device is plugged into them.

How to kill vampire waste

The Pivot Power Genius

Colin West McDonald/CNET

The most obvious way to nix energy leak is by unplugging everything when you aren’t using it. But this can be a huge pain, especially when you use various items throughout the day or the outlets are behind heavy furniture.

One way to make things a little easier is by using power strips. Whenever you aren’t using your devices, flip the switch on the power strip to cut off all power to your devices so that they can’t go into stand-by. Some power strips even come with remotes so you can shut off power from across the room, like the Conserve Switch AV Surge Protector.

Smart power strips take this idea a step further. They have outlets that are meant for different types of devices. Some of the outlets are designated for items that need to stay on all the time, like your DVR. Other outlets are for items that go into stand-by mode or use energy, but don’t need to be on. When you shut off a device or disconnect your device from your it’s charger, the power strip senses it and will shut off all power to the device.

Another option is programmable outlets, like Belkin WeMo Insight Switch and Quirky Pivot Power Genius. These plug into your regular outlet and have an app you can use to schedule your devices to shut off remotely.

Worst offenders: The 16 least-efficient new…

1 – 5 of 32

Next
Prev

Replace energy-hogging appliances

In some cases you might decide that replacing a device or appliance is the best solution. For instance, Jason found that his old secondary refrigerator cost him $40 per month, enough to justify a more energy-efficient replacement.