Energy vampires are everywhere in your house. Do you know how to spot them -- and stop them from wasting your precious resources?
According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, energy vampires are devices that "are ready to operate or receive signals at all times," which causes them to "act like vampires silently sucking away energy even when they are turned 'off.'" Also known as "standby" or "phantom energy," it amounts to about five percent of total energy consumed in a household per year.
If you need to rid yourself of energy vampires, take a gander at these common culprits:
Cell phones, cordless phones, microwave oven, laptop computer, wireless router, speaker system, lcd computer system.
The US Department of Energy estimates that these vampires cost Americans about $4 billion a year in wasted energy. PCWorld estimates that that spending could cost each family at least $130 a year. So, how do you get rid of them?
1. Unplug Or Strip Down
"Smart" power strips can monitor your energy use and automatically cut vampire energy. Some devices should probably left on to avoid resetting -- like a digital clock, for example -- but smart strips usually come with a remote control that allows you to specify, with ease, which devices to turn off and when.
2. Check Labels
An easier way to cut down your energy waste would be to buy low-energy devices in the first place. The US Department of Energy's Energy Star-labelled devices are already low-power enough for general use.
If you want to test for energy vampires in your home, you can use the Kill-a-Watt energy meter to measure power consumption over time.
No comments:
Post a Comment