Vampire Power

“I want to drain your electricity”

Vampire power doesn’t drain your blood, but rather electricity and your wallet. Also know as standby power or phantom load, vampire power refers to the energy usage of electrical appliances and chargers simply by being plugged in. Appliances can still draw power while being turned off or inactive. Cell phone and laptop chargers for example still draw power, even if nothing is plugged into them.

Individually, leaving things like electric toothbrushes plugged into the wall don’t seem to have an effect, but the additive sum of everyone leaving things plugged in has an effect. In the United States, vampire power costs consumers approximately $3 billion a year and in the average home vampire power accounts for 25 percent of energy usage. That’s a lot of power.

A great way to be more sustainable and to save some money on your energy bill is to take steps to reduce your vampire power usage. The best way to fight it is to simply unplug devices when they aren’t in use. The coffee machine, the microwave, and unused chargers are all things that can be plugged in when needed. If this is too much of a hassle, you can also use surge protected power strips. These are power strips with an on/off switch that you can turn off when not in use. You can also use smart surge protected power strips which automatically cut off power to devices when they aren’t in use.

Written By Sophia