Vampire energy is the power that is consumed by electronics that are plugged in but not actively being used. Since most of us own televisions, LCD monitors, cordless phones and DVD players, just to name a few, this graphic from Good Magazine clearly puts into perspective how much money and energy is spent over the course of a year when we are not even using our gadgets. The problem is that while fully disconnecting some of your electronics from power is no big deal, doing so with certain other ones such as your cable box would result in having to reload the channel guide every time you turned the TV on. So what would you do?
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Comments (1)
What would I do? I wouldn't care. I've ran all around my house, friends' houses and my office with my Kill-A-Watt debunking this myth. Every article that I've read on the subject blows energy usage WAY out of proportion and uses unrealistic scenarios. I mean, come on - even the cited article has to fudge and make their VCR, TV and "Game Console" into "active standby" mode which means for all intents and purposes the thing is ON.
If you really believe these articles, do yourself a favor - buy yourself a $20 Kill-A-Watt and find out for yourself. The worst you could do is find your biggest energy gobbler and turn it off saving yourself hundreds a year without any effort!