I vant to suck your… bank account?
According to the Department of Energy, vampire drain costs Americans about $3 billion a year extra on their power bills. Right now, that’s about five percent of all power used in this country and could account for 20 by 2020.
What Is Vampire Drain?
It’s when electronics draw power even when not in use. Big culprits of vampire drain are TVs that draw energy to power their sensors (to receive communication from a remote to power on at a moment’s notice, for example) or cell phone AC adaptors, which don’t know when a phone is actually plugged in or not and simply draw the same amount of power at all times.
A TV can rack up an extra $150 a year just from pulling power in standby mode. And, while cutting down on battery usage is beneficial for the environment, the proliferation of rechargeable electronics is what’s causing vampire drain to skyrocket.
Garlic Won’t Protect You From These Vampires
In order to ward off these money-suckers, there are a few things you can do. First, knowledge is power. Use an electricity usage monitor and find out what’s drawing power when switched off. Then, find replacements that don’t draw so much power or remember to unplug these items when not in use. An easier way to control power to these types of devices could be to plug them into a power strip that you can easily switch off.
There is equipment out there that is built with personal occupancy sensors to identify when a room is unoccupied to turn off power to outlets. One manufacturer of this is Watt Stopper.
