You might assume that when you turn your television or lamp off, it's no longer using electricity, but for a lot of devices, that's not the case. Many home appliances still consume small amounts of electricity when plugged in, even if they are turned off. This type of power consumption, known as vampire energy or phantom energy, can have a substantive impact on your electric bill.
How does 'vampire energy' work?
Entertainment devices, in particular, draw energy even when they are "not in use," said The Associated Press. Many televisions with internet connections and smart wake capabilities "interact with phones and other devices," allowing them to "consume up to 40 watts of energy during the hours of the day that the TV would normally be off," Matt Malinowski, the director of the buildings program at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, said to the AP.
Wasted electricity also stems from desktop computers that were "put into sleep mode instead of being powered off," chargers that still "draw power even if the device is not connected," and new smart home appliances like refrigerators, washers and dryers that have "always-on displays," said CNET.
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This vampire energy "may not readily be noticed" by consumers, but it's a "big issue," according to the U.S. Department of Energy. It can account for "5% to 10% of residential energy use and could cost the average U.S. household as much as $100 per year."
How can you cut down on vampire energy?
Luckily for most consumers, modern appliances have gotten better at cutting down on vampire energy. Most "lights, electronics and appliances in your home are already pretty efficient and use much less energy than their predecessors from 10 or 20 years ago," said Wirecutter. Significant waste like "excess standby power, which devices draw while plugged in but not turned on, has largely been engineered and regulated out of new products."
But there are still several steps you can take to ward off the wasted energy and cut money off your electric bill. There's the obvious solution to "take a little step of unplugging the things that you are not using," Aidan Charron, the associate director of Global Earth Day, said to the AP. This will "save you money" and "emissions in the long run."
While televisions and similar devices may seem like the obvious choice, other things can be unplugged to save electricity. Examples include "old wireless phones, old media players, or lamps that are more decorative than functional," said CNET. Though this may seem like a tedious task, you can "set up ways to make the process of cutting phantom load more automatic," such as plugging devices into surge protectors.
Many have experimented with this type of behavior and had success. "I went around and unplugged everything in my house that's not in regular use, including electric heaters" and "several abandoned surge protectors and charge stations," Crystal Ponti said at Wired. "My electricity bill dropped by $38 the next month and $30 the month after, shaving about a third off what I typically paid."
