Save some cash, & get unplugged by cutting the 'phantom load'

[steven johnson]

Earth_First brought up this subject one month ago but I think it bears repeating.
"Phantom Load"

Many electronic items still draw power when they're turned off. It's a phenomenon called "phantom" load, and it sucks about 5 percent to 10 percent of the energy used in America's homes each year.

Your cable box and flat-screen TV are among the worst offenders. Microwaves and cell phone chargers are power suckers, too.

One flip of a switch on a power strip gives you instant savings, as much as $110 a year, Keane said.

Cell phone charger: about $10 each year. Computer speakers: $4 per year. Dumping that desktop for a laptop could put $36 in your pocket annually.


Save some cash, get unplugged

[dkf]

1. Especially cable boxes with DVRs I imagine.

Too bad they won't allow us to watch on demand. Instead we have to keep these things up and running so they can record shows. What can you do?

[Fridays Child]

2. k/r and forwarded to friends and family.

:thumbsup:

[endless october]

3. i've thought about doing something like this.

at the very least, going around the house and unplugging stuff i'm not using during the day.

[BeFree]

4. Yep

But if you think climate change is not caused by air pollution and you don't care what happens to your children, don't even do this one little thing.

Don't do anything, you selfish batids.

[madokie]

5. a couple years ago I purchased a Kill-a-watt meter

to help me in determining what I needed to turn off and after plugging everything like tv's, computers and associated hardware and leaving them for a few days and I came to the conclusion that I would be wasting my time in worrying about trying to save any money by buying some powerstrips to help in turning everything off with. Its been a while so I don't remember the exact dollars and cents but it wasn't going to be anything like a hundred bucks savings per year. Switching to CFL's made a big difference though, turning them off when not needed helped also.