Smart Plugs (Phantom Energy) - The Other Large Energy Loss After Lighting 

 

In the previous section, we featured the electrical watts used by various types of bulbs, when they’re in use. What’s less apparent is how much electricity is consumed by gadgets when they’re turned off. So-called phantom energy (or “vampire power”) is the electricity drawn from outlets when equipment is off but still plugged in. Many types of electronics and office equipment, including computers, stereos and printers, continue to draw electricity when they’re plugged in and off. Basically, anything with a small glowin LED is consuming electricity.  And it’s not a negligible amount: Phantom energy can account for 15% or more of the total electricity used by these products (see the list below and in the previous section).The best way to avoid this wasted energy is by unplugging these electronics when they’re not in use. Many people don’t, however, because of the hassle and time involved with rummaging under the desk or behind shelves for the plug.  It is recommend to use power strips and hooking multiple items into them, so one can just flick one switch and turn everything off at once. Even better, put the power strips in easy-to-reach locations, such as on top of your desk.  Keep in mind, some electronics stay plugged in all the time and may only get used a couple hours a week or less. So even if the phantom energy draw is small, it can add up to a significant part of your home or business’s electricity usage.

 

To see the phantom energy draw of equipment that you may have in your workplace or at home, here’s a list of the average watts per hour used by various office electronics when they’re turned off (thanks, again, to the Energy Center of Wisconsin study):

 

Treadmill – 5.6 watts

Fax machine – 5.2 watts

Printer – 4.3 watts

Compact stereo – 4.3 watts

Tool charger – 4.2 watts

Battery charger – 2.6 watts

TV, CRT (26 – 31 inches) – 1.3 watts

Desktop computer – 2.4 watts

Modem – 1.5 wattsScanner – 1.5 watts

Monitor – 1.2 watts

Laptop computers – 0.7 watts

DVD player – 0.4 watts

 

Do you take steps to reduce phantom energy?  Turn stereo consoles and large screen TVs and computer equipmet to realize additional savings over and above the LED savings.  The chart below shows the LED bulb purchase, as mentioned previously, and power plug savers, such as WeMO.  This is an energy savings power plug, now owned by Belkin of cable and everything computer fame.  The WeMo plug will calculate the energy consumed and when you input your utility cost per watt, it will calculate your cost to run what is plugged in.  This is very leading edge, however the software GUI is terrible and buggy.

 

I will introduce Zuli in the next section.