First Steps Toward Green Energy
Reduce Phantom Energy Use
Phantom energy also know as, stand by power is the energy used for consumer electronics that when turn off are still drawing energy. When you walk through your home at night with the lights off, chances are your path will still be lit by the eerie glow of “standby” lights and digital displays on various appliances and electronic devices. Because these devices are ready to operate or receive signals at all times, they act like vampires silently sucking away energy even when they are turned “off.”
This wasted energy, represents a relatively small but growing percentage of an individual home’s electricity use (about five percent), but taken across all U.S. households, adds up to an estimated 65 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity each year. This extra electricity costs consumers more than $5.8 billion annually and sends more than 87 billion pounds of heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year.
Some of the biggest energy wasters in most homes are the adapters that come with rechargeable battery-powered cordless phones, cell phones, digital cameras and music players, power tools, and other electronic devices. Most draw power whenever they’re plugged into an outlet, regardless of whether the device battery is fully charged—or even connected. Other culprits include appliances or electronic equipment with standby capability (such as televisions and computer monitors), a remote control, and/or a digital clock display (such as microwaves, DVD players, and stereo systems).
Here are a few easy ways to help you enjoy your electronics without wasting energy:
- Unplug it - Unplugging devices when they are not being used eliminates any potential energy loss. To save the time and hassle of unplugging all the components of a computer or home entertainment system, you could plug them into a power strip or surge suppressor that can be turned off with a single switch (surge suppressors still protect against power spikes when plugged in, even if switched off). Unfortunately, some devices such as battery backup systems and computer network servers must be left on at all times to ensure proper functioning.
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Kill-A-Watt EZ
- Now you can cut your energy costs and find out what appliances are actually worth keeping plugged in. Simply connect
these appliances to the Kill-A-Watt EZ™, and it will assess how efficient they really are. Large LCD display will count
consumption by the Killowatt-hour, same as your local utility. Shows the operating costs of your household
appliances accurate to within 0.2% Large LCD Display Calculates cost and forecasts by week, month and yearBuilt-in
battery backupDisplays eight critical units of measure
Source:P3 International