Avoiding Electricity Vampires

Even when you've turned off your lights, your TV, your clocks, your heating, etc., you still can see your power meter clocking the watts. Why? Mysterious energy draws—called "vampire loads," "phantom loads," "standby power," "energy leaks," "idle current," and so forth—can account for 15 to 25% of your home’s entire electricity consumption. They refer to the way devices use and waste electricity even when they aren't turned on. In some homes, these loads are the single biggest electricity expense. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates these loads amount to $3 billion annually in energy costs.

Manage these quiet electricity eaters in your home to save money and eliminate unnecessary power use.

Many appliances continue to draw a small amount of power when they are switched off. These phantom loads occur in most appliances that use electricity, such as DVD players, VCRs, televisions, stereos, computers, and kitchen appliances, appliances with timers (e.g. coffee maker, microwave ovens), and appliances with remote control devices. This can be avoided by unplugging the appliance or using a power strip and using the switch on the power strip to cut all power to the appliance.

Plug home electronics, such as TVs and DVD players, into power strips; turn the power strips off when the equipment is not in use. TVs and DVDs in standby mode still use several watts of power!
To maximize savings with a laptop, plug in the laptop's AC adapter into a power strip that can be turned off (or will turn off automatically when it detects it's not in use); the transformer in the AC adapter draws power continuously, even when the laptop is not plugged into the adapter.

A "smart strip" turns off computer peripherals when the computer is shut down.

Managing “always on” loads

Many electrical draws in our homes could be reduced or eliminated. Consider: Cell phone chargers, electric toothbrushes, security systems, irrigation controllers, hot water recirculation pumps, towel warmers, electric resistant floor heat in bathrooms, and certainly computers.

Investigate the length of time some appliances are on, such as swimming pool and pond filter and booster pumps, landscape lights, holiday light displays, outdoor fountains, and above-ground hot tubs. Does your fountain need to run when people are away? Install a timer to turn it on at times people will see it and turn it off at night.
Turn off your monitor when you're away from your PC for 20 minutes or more. If you will be away for two hours or more, turn off your personal computer and monitor.
Enable automatic switching to sleep mode when your monitor is not in use. Screensavers do not reduce energy use by monitors.
Unplug battery chargers when the batteries are fully charged or the chargers are not in use.
Do you have clocks, TVs, and radios in guest rooms that are rarely used? Unplug them until the rooms are in use.

Install a timer on outdoor lights, fans, Christmas lights, and other devices that do not need to be on all day.

Tips for outing phantom loads

Plug your devices into a power meter that plugs into a wall outlet. An LCD display and cumulative killowatt-hour monitor shows volts, amps, and watts, and forecast your costs, so you can determine what to unplug and where you need something like a "smart power strip."

A "smart" power strip cuts the power when your devices are off, so you don't have to remember to do so. Some use timers, some use motion sensors, and some use power monitors. Some shut off peripherals when TVs and computers are shut off.
Simply unplugging seemingly small things like your cell phone charger, which is only in use a few minutes per day, will make a bigger difference than you'd think.