From the Greenopolis Archives:
The EPA is asking: What are your energy vampires? This came across my desk from the EPA recently - just in time for trick or treat!

Photo: Pravda

"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. Chargers, 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?"

Top 10 Energy Vampires in Your home

1. Laptop computer chargers
2. answering and machines
3. Computer  printer
4. TVs and cable boxes,
5. VCRs, DVD players, DVD recorders, digital video recorders,
6. phone and iPod chargers
7. hubs and routers,
8. video camera battery charger
9. plugged-in electric toys
10. night lights

My wife and I have looked at this list, and one easy solution we've found is to plug electronics into a power strip, and either switch off the strip itself or plug it into a switched outlet and turn that off when you're not using the devices. We've done that with our TV, DVD and cable box group, and our computer, monitor, printer and accessories group. Feels nice to really shut down at night and on the weekend. No blinking lights or faint power hums in the house.

Might be little spooky at first, but better that than being frightened of your electric bill!

Here is some more information about energy vampires:
http://greenopolis.com/goblog/dont-get-bitten-by-the-energy-vampire

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