Hooray for summer! My family took a road trip last week to Dutch Wonderland and Hershey Park, hence the missing update. However, I’m back now and ready to tackle your most perplexing energy questions. And yes, I know I’m posting this on a Thursday. I’m late sometimes… (that’s what she said – doh!)
This week, I’m taking on a query from the ever-awesome Johnny B. Truant. He asked…
I love this question because it acknowledges that electronics draw power even when they’re turned off or in stand-by mode. If they’re plugged in, they’re probably sucking energy, hence the term “Vampire Power.”
They Vant To Suck Your Money
A cursory search around the web will show you that this is a very real issue and, while manufacturers of power-saving equipment would have you believe it’s a major contributor to higher bills, my experience has shown that an average consumer will only spend about 5% more if they leave everything plugged in all the time. That averages out to about $50 extra per year for everything.
Obviously no one wants to throw away that kind of money, but I ask you to remember that’s just an average and expects you to have a few computers, a whole bunch of inefficient equipment and no power-saving measures whatsoever. I would estimate unplugging a standard cable box every time it’s not in use would save you about $5 per year.
That said, many advances have reduced the amount of energy they’re pulling. ENERGY STAR appliances and electronics were designed to draw far less power in standby mode than non-qualified items. Check this out to learn more about how to buy products with low standby power draws.
Some will say that the increased focus on standby mode power use at the manufacturing level is helping the situation. I disagree. We have more crap that requires power than ever before, so our increasing volume offsets the reduction for those few items. Fortunately, there are a number things you can do to stay in control of your power draw without climbing behind an entertainment center or desk…
Bring Out Your Slayer Stakes
Most computers have a sleep setting. Use it. If you want to go one step farther, flip the big switch in the back (if you have one) instead of the “soft” button on the front, which is more of a standby switch than a power button. Learn more about computer management at Climate Savers.
There are also a few different manufacturers offering smart power strips that eliminate the excess power draws experienced in your home or office. One that I’ve received a lot of great feedback on is the Smart Strip Power Strip, which can save up to 73% of the wasted energy on a computer system if you set it to go to sleep after an hour and keep it plugged into the strip.
If you’d like to take it to the next level, you can reduce vampire power up to 85% with the Power Smart Tower featuring iGo Green® Technology.
You can find out just how much juice your electronics are pulling with a Kill-A-Watt device. These things are great for predicting energy bills and also deciding which of your items need your attention the most. Plus, they’re fun in a geeky sort of way.
The Advice You Weren’t Expecting…
Ultimately, you’re better off focusing on more pressing matters. The amount of time you’re going to spend mitigating energy vampires could have a better bang if you gave your hour to something else…
- Do you already turn off the lights when you leave a room? Really? (don’t lie… you’re only doing so to yourself here)
- Speaking of lights, have you replaced all your incandescent bulbs with CFLs or LEDs?
- Do you already have setbacks scheduled on a programmable thermostat? Do you leave it, or do you mess with it according to your outfit, level of activity, etc?
- Do you use a ceiling fan to keep you cool instead of kicking up the AC? Do you reverse it in the winter to bring the heat down to you?
- Do you wash your clothes in cold water? Dry your clothes on a line when possible?
- Have you replaced outdated refrigerators, washers, and so on with energy efficient models that, by nature, use less than their predecessors?
If you’ve done all of this and still want to go after your vampires, I’d suggest checking out the Berkeley National Labs site on Standby Power. I wish you luck and encourage you to contact me if you have any questions along the way!
A few quick notes before I go:
- Next week I’ll be back on the regular Wednesday schedule. Hit me up if you have thoughts you’d like me to include or address.
- If you have any questions you’d like me to answer in a future post, tweet @Renewabelle or get in touch with me one of a few other ways over here.
- If you have any follow up questions or notes you’d like to add, I’d love to hear from you in the comments.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. I hope this information proves useful and that it finds you well.
RB
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Really interesting post! Some great recommendations. My wife and I were just talking about ways we can conserve energy especially during these hot summer months and the AC is going. You gave us a number of things we can look at, thanks for sharing..
Great info. Thanks for sharing. I keep hearing different points of view on turning up the A/C by 5-6 degrees during the day since I'm gone for at least 10 hours. Thoughts?
Great info. Thanks for sharing. I keep hearing different points of view on turning up the A/C by 5-6 degrees during the day since I'm gone for at least 10 hours. Thoughts?
The first thing I'd ask is whether you have ceiling fans. If you do, make sure they're running counter-clockwise to help that air-conditioning stay at your level while pushing hot air up and away. You should have a little switch on the side of the fan that will control the direction… That's a freebie few know yet everyone can do.
Thank you very much for reading, sharing and commenting! I'm glad I could help!
That's an excellent question, Jeff. The short answer is “yes, you're going to save a noticeable amount of money,” but I will gladly get into the details soon so you can know what to expect. The general rule is that you'll save 1-3% per degree for each degree above 72. I've seen even better savings when other no-cost actions accompany the thermostat changes
Thanks for reading, sharing, commenting and asking a question about energy!
Hey Jess, I always love your posts but I have a couple of admissions. I hate the damned CFL's. They cost a fortune and never even last a year, never mind the 10 years or whatever they claim.
I would love to line dry my clothes, I really like the stiffness of them when you take them off the line, but alas the HOA says no to that… not to mention Kristen would have to do the actual work while I play at work sucking up power from 3 monitors, 2 computers, a phone and whatever else I can hook up.
Hi Phil! Funny enough, Johnny asked me about CFLs today. Soon you won't be able to buy regular lightbulbs and will have to choose a more efficient alternative. There are other options… I'm going to cover all of this in a post shortly, but know you're not alone. Having had one explode on my head once, I'm not the biggest fan of them, either.
Also, with the line-drying… I have two rigs set up in my house — one above the washer/dryer and the other is on our shower rod. Tide makes these awesome hangers that help clothes dry faster (especially pants): http://amzn.to/d3m6Pb I have eight of them and use them all the time. For what it's worth, I use my dryer, too.
Thanks for reading and commenting. It always makes my day to hear from you!
I like that you pointed out we should go for the big things first. Knocking ourselves out for a $50/year energy savings is silly when we can save double that by swapping out our incandescents. Or save that much per month by putting a timer on the A/C that raises it when we're at work.
Hi Drew! I know many of my colleagues would cringe to hear me give that advice, but from a practical standpoint, it doesn't make sense to chase a small amount of energy savings when you could hit the big stuff with the same amount of money and time. If you were aiming for a zero energy home, it makes sense to do everything you can… However, most people aren't even close to that, so I'd rather encourage everyone to take care of the most important items first. I'm glad you agree
Thanks so much for stopping by, reading and commenting!
A while back I put everything onto surge protectors with a kill switch, but never use them. Now the guilt is gone, thanks!
I do turn off the computer every night vs. putting it to sleep. My Mac gets kind of warm and figure a cool down (with resulting energy savings) is a good idea.
Here's a kind of geeky tip: some computers run maintenance scripts in the middle of the night, and if the computer's off they don't run. I take care of that by running software once a week (Cocktail for Mac, not sure about PCs) that includes the maintenance scripts.
oh, and: love the new header!
The couple of bucks per CFL bulb you pay at the store above the cost of old fashioned incandescents are more than made up for many times over by your electric bill savings. Really, truly, you are wasting “several fortunes” using 60 watt bulbs that burn out all the time. If you seriously, honestly, actually have been having CFL's burn out in less than a year then you've been sold a defective box of products. Many CFL brands are guaranteed to last 5 years, but usually last much longer than that.
You are absolutely correct, Seth. Not only should they last much longer than a year, but they're a lot less expensive than they used to be and will pay for themselves very quickly through the energy savings realized. Thanks for reading and commenting!
Oh boy… Don't let my post dissuade you from using that kill switch when you can. Every little bit helps. I'm merely suggesting that there are bigger fish to fry and, if you're strictly out to save energy, there are better ways to do it than to kill your cable box every time you turn off your TV.
Also, thanks for that tip on Cocktail! I'm a fellow Mac user and am all about computing efficiency. You rock, Barbara!
Thanks for the compliment (Martin Whitmore is the artist responsible for my header, BTW), reading and commenting!
Amybelle!!! Thanks for stopping by!
xo