Beware Vampire Power: How to keep appliances from sapping your energy
“Vampire power” has many names: vampire load, vampire energy, standby power, phantom load, leaking energy, standby loss, idle current, phantom power, and ghost load. Despite all these names, they all define the same phenomena: when an electronic device continues to use electricity, even when switched off. Many common devices run on vampire power, including power adapters, power suppliers (such as cell phone and laptop chargers), televisions, microwaves, computers, video game consoles, and more.
On their own, these devices only drain small amounts of energy. But, the combined number of all the appliances in any given household can add up to a lot of wasted energy and money. When multiplied worldwide, it becomes a significant environmental issue.
Aside from buying more energy efficient appliances, there are two easy and economical ways to combat vampire power. First, the easiest thing you can do is unplug your electronics when not in use. The device cannot use electricity if it isn’t plugged in. This is especially applicable to cell phone, computer, or battery chargers. Another way to reduce power consumption is to use power strips or surge protectors. Devices plugged into a power strip cannot use electricity when the power strip is switched off. Keep these tips in mind to make your home more energy efficient!