There is a lot of scary talk about vampire loads in your home, but don’t get overly spooked by phantom loads. You just need to know which loads are very small and which are more significant. The standby load, sometimes called phantom or vampire load, of an electrical device is the rate of energy consumption when it is turned off but still plugged in to the electrical outlet. This low level of energy consumption when the device is not in use is typically caused by wall chargers, illuminated displays, or the electronics needed to respond to the remote control.
Phone Chargers
For example, your phone charger uses only about a quarter of a Watt when the phone is not connected. It typically draws less than 4 Watts when charging, and it drops to about 2 Watts when the phone is fully charged. It all adds up to only about $2 a year for each mobile phone in regions where electricity is ten cents per kilowatt-hour. Even in parts of the U.S. where electricity is much higher, it would still be only about $5 to charge your smart phone for the entire year.
Televisions and Monitors
Many electronics around the house have a very small standby load of approximately 1 Watt or less. You may be surprised to learn some devices in this category include a computer monitor, a TV with an Energy Star label, a DVD player, a coffee maker, and even a video game system if truly switched off. Depending on the electricity prices where you live, a standby load of 1 Watt for the entire year will cost less than $1 at 10 cents per kWh and less than $3 at 30 cents per kWh. For higher standby loads, multiply those annual costs above for 1 Watt by the number of Watts each appliance uses when turned off but plugged in.
Microwaves
A microwave plugged in all the time uses around 3 watts. That would be $3-$9 a year depending on the electric rates where you live. Common electronics in the 3-6 Watt range when switched off include a non Energy Star TV, a desktop computer, and an ink jet printer. If you leave computer speakers on all the time, they use around 4 Watts. As a reference, an ordinary night light with a screw in bulb uses 4 Watts when lit up. And remember, at just one-quarter of 1 Watt, each charger around your home for small portable devices costs you about 25-75 cents a year depending on the price of electricity in your area.
Home Office
Your home office equipment is a good candidate to put on a power strip to eliminate standby load by turning connected devices off with one switch. Smart power strips are also available to automatically cut power to any items you choose when the personal computer is shut off or drops into sleep mode.
Home Entertainment Systems
Your main home entertainment system may also be a candidate for a power strip if you have energy hungry accessories like surround sound or game systems. If you buy television programming from a phone, cable, or satellite provider, those set top boxes typically use 15-40 Watts 24 hours a day. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is currently developing energy efficiency requirements for this very significant plug load in American homes. If the set top box retains the channels in memory without power, you can save $15-45 a year by plugging it into a power strip to cut power when you’re not watching TV. Now if you have a DVR programmed to record your favorite TV shows, then that will need to have power all the time. In that case, plug it directly into the power outlet. Again, smart power strips are available which will switch off all the accessories for you automatically when it senses you turned the TV off.
Laptop Computers
What about laptop computers? The charger for your laptop by itself uses around 4 Watts. It takes about 40 Watts while the laptop is charging, and it still draws around 30 Watts when fully charged if you left it turned on. Even in sleep mode it’s using about 16 Watts, so it’s more efficient to turn off the laptop while charging. That’s one device you might want to unplug once the battery has a full charge to save at least $10 a year.
Video Games Systems
Finally, watch out for video game systems. If the gamers in your household are in the habit of never turning them off, certain popular models can cost $50-$130 when left on 24 hours a day. To avoid any family arguments, investigate if your game system has an option to turn off the system and return to the level the player had reached. Some modern game systems are much more efficient than others. To check if yours is an energy hog, put your hand on it when no one is playing. If it feels hot, you have just found a vampire in your home!
Now that you know the facts, you can make informed decisions about which items you choose to unplug or switch off with a power strip when not in use.
Energy Research Insights 