May 19 2008
How U.S. Homes Lose $4 Billion To Vampires Each Year
Sometimes, turning electronics off doesn’t really turn them “off”.
Because of clocks, battery chargers, and other LED displays, devices in Standby Mode slowly suck energy from the national power grid and have earned the nickname “Energy Vampires”.
Some examples of standby energy include:
- Clock displays on home applicances
- Computers in Hibernation Mode
- Battery rechargers
- Communication between base units and portable units on phones
There is even a growing business around identifying energy loss in a home. P3 International, for example, touts it’s Kill-A-Watt product as a way to “find out what applicances are actually worth keeping plugged in”.
The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that Energy Vampires sucked $4 billion of energy from U.S. homes last year.
