No, I'm not talking about the combined resources of several hundred Twilight-crazed teenage girls, I'm talking about the power that your electrical gizmos (supposedly) suck down even when they are turned off.
I've read quite a bit online about vampire power, just go out to your search engine of choice and see what I mean. So, the other night when I saw a story on Evening Magazine about this topic, I stopped and watched, and was very surprised by what I saw. Featured on the story was the King County Eco Expert, and he went through a typical Puget Sound home with an energy monitor, to see how much power the appliances and gizmos were pulling when they were not in use, and translated that into how much per month you could save by unplugging them. A cordless phone costs about 11 cents per month (based on average energy rates in the Puget Sound area), while a computer printer costs about 19 cents per month. I think overall, based on all the electronics they tested (microwave, digital picture frame, phone, computer, printer, flat-screen Energy Star TV), they would only save 73 cents per month. I was surprised. From all the other things I've read online, like this article, I would have expected the savings to be far greater.
So, I'll keep unplugging the obvious things--cell phone charger, iPod charger, etc.--when not in use, but I don't know that I am going to go to any other great lengths (like buying a smart power strip) at this point. I guess my point today is to think twice about leaving things plugged in when they are not in use, but don't go overboard. A good place to start might be a free energy audit if your local electric utility offers one.
