Kill a Vampire for Halloween ...
Vampires are among us. When you aren't looking (or, when you are looking but not seeing), when you are sleeping, when you aren't paying attention, Vampires are sucking up vital juices, threatening our very existence.
This is one video that, amid all the political videos, merits going viral.
A video to educate about the importance of Slaying Vampires.
About the need to Get Energy Smart! NOW!!!
Standby / Vampire Power refers to the electric power consumed by electronic appliances in a standby mode. A very common "electricity vampire" is a power adaptor built on a plug with no power switch. However, while this consumption of power is used to provide functions for appliances such as remote controls and digital clocks to the user, most of the power consumed is considered wasted.
Vampire power ... that little red light showing your TV as 
always ready for the remote control, even if you only watch it an hour a month. The cell phone or wireless phone charger burning up power even after the phone is fully charged (or even without the phone). The 'sleeping' computer. The xerox machine left on through the four day weekend. The modem and wireless system. The nearly ubiquituos electronics of our lives.
From the Treehugger TV Vampire Video
* 17-25 % of household electricity is due to vampire power
* Estimated cost to US homes and businesses: $1 - $3.5 billion / year
Grinning Planet on Vampire Electricity
The amount of standby power wasted varies among electronic equipment, but overall, the cost to consumers and businesses for all the electricity lost to vampire power in the US is estimated to be $4 billion annually. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates the global energy consumption due to standby power at between 200-400 terawatts [hours] per year.
Very roughly, consider every kilowatt hour as generating one pound of CO2 (roughly, global, that seems to work when one 
considers coal, natural gas, and oil portions of global electricity generation). Thus, Vampire power could account for 400 billion pounds of CO2 emissions, a cause of pollution that simply didn't exist just a few decades ago. And, well, a cause of emissions that we each can do something about.
Taking Action
We can act to reduce vampire power's impact on our pocketbooks and the planet.
1. Unplug unnecesary / unused systems. Going on vacation? Does everything need to stay plugged in? (And, well, as long as we are on that unAmerican activity of vacation, do you turn down your thermostat and your water heater while away?) That TV in the guest room really need to be sitting waiting for that ever so occasional visitor?
2. Unplug when not in use. Get in the habit of unplugging/turning off entirely systems when not in use/the power charging is unrequired. Back to Treehugger for a links as part of the hat tip for this video. Such as one path for dealing with Vampire power is to Consider systems to shut off multiple vampire systems with one switch, such as Smart Strips.
3. Reduce. Do you really need that 10th wireless cell phone? Second TV? The VCR that has been unused for three years?
4. Purchase wisely: Not all electronics are created equal. Look to energy efficiency (including standby power demands) to reduce Vampire's impact as you upgrade/replace/add electronics. (And, if you wish to go high end, Greenswitch claims their household electronics control system cuts vampire power drains significantly.)
There is much that you can do, yourself. One useful site for figuring out energy efficiency in the home is Michael BlueJay Electricty. (Not perfect, but a good place.)
Personal power
Vampire Power is something that can be driven down through better regulatory activity, by standard setting to drive down the power requirements.
Let us go back to some of our common electronics. According to Energy Star (as cited in What one person can do), "The table below details the wasted electricity associated with electronics of standard design as compared to units that qualify for the government's EnergyStar efficiency rating."
| Type of equipment | Amount of vampire power wasted |
| Cordless phone | 66% |
| Televisions | 25% |
| VCRs | 30% |
| DVD players | Up to 75% |
| Home audio equipment | Up to 90% |
Why isn't every device pushed to "energy star" levels to drive out these wasted percents? Thus, there is a level to this problem that is beyond our personal action.
But, again, we can act, immediately, to slay Vampires. My home/life is far (FAR) from perfect, far from a true environmental haven, yet ...
All of the above, cost to me: negative, they save money. [Note: many of these practices very easily transfer into office life. Do you really need the printer on 24/7, awaiting those few minutes a day of printing. My 'printer' is on probably less than an hour per week. Graced with windows, my office lights are on perhaps less than 10 hours/week. And, within the office, I 'offset' my polluting life with wandering the halls before weekends turning off kilowatts worth of systems. And, we try to help others understand 'vampire power', such as highlighting the wastefulness of all-night outdoor lighting.]
We have, when replacing things, consistently sought out high energy efficiency ... that can cost a bit, up front, even while saving over the long run.
All those wasted 2 watt, 5 watt, 15 watts for standby power, for the power transformer can add up. To billions of pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere. And, to dollars that you might prefer to keep in your pocket rather than send to the electric company.
In any event ...
A holiday is ahead of us ...
Celebrate in style ...
Celebrate appropriately ....
Celebrate appropriately ...
Celebrate Halloween
Slay Some Vampires!
We can all help make America Energy Smart.
Ask yourself:
Are you doing
your part to
ENERGIZE AMERICA?
*NOTES*
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
Hi Nick. Life is not that complex. It is easy to unplug stuff or put them on plug strips. It does not matter to phantom loads what your fridge or heater does, you can still deal with them with little hassle.
Try hibernate on your computers. They start quicker and use no energy once they are turned off.
Finally, I use clocks that take AA rechargeable batteries. I have to recharge the batteries once every 8 months to a year, which uses a lot less energy than AC clocks.
My mom has started doing this (using a power strip). She goes around unplugging stuff at night. It's weird to see her doing it since she is not exactly ever been concerned about the environment. However, when she started getting concerned about her pocket book, I think taking the time to make little changes was a bit easier to swallow. Much in the same way we Americans started driving less after $4.00 a gallon gas. We could have made changes years ago, but once it started to hurt our wallets we were finally moved to act.
If they are all like Bill in HBO's True Blood, I would much prefer to enjoy an evening with him. Bill is welcome to bite my neck whenever he wants.
Life is complex. I buy EnergyStar rated appliances. The lights are mostly florescents, my refrigerators (I replaced a freezer) are at the most efficient end of the spectrum of choices. That being said, the furnace fan keeping the house humidity from spiking due to weather (which aggravates my asthma), and the refrigerators may eat up more energy than all the miscellaneous vampires I own.
It's too much bother to plug/unplug or switch off everything, and just annoying. My TIVO has a hard disk and takes 5-20 minutes to restart. A lot of appliances have digital clocks. The wireless phone needs to be connected to operate. The computers go into sleep mode when I'm away, but would take 5 minutes to start up if I turned them off everytime I went for a drink of water or lunch.
The practical solution is for the EnergyStar regulations to be tightened up severely, and right now. Then as the old appliances reach end of life we replace them with more efficient ones.
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
