Household Vampires
Would you like to save up to 20 percent on your energy bill?
That’s the amount the Department of Energy estimates the average family pays for the power used by appliances — when they’re off.
Some common power-suckers: televisions, monitors, game consoles, printers and DVD players. If it has a clock, a remote or a transformer, it may be costing you money if it’s plugged in. Search for more on why this happens.
Some simple vampire-killing solutions:
Least convenient (but free!): Unplug your appliances and chargers at the wall.
More convenient: a single-switch power strip.
Most convenient: a smart power strip that turns off peripherals such as printers and monitors when the main appliance is shut down.
Other energy- and money-saving tricks:
Ditch the “wall warts” and try a solar charger for your cell phone.
Sleep your computer when you’re not using it; desktops left running continuously can draw up to 300 watts an hour. Search for sleep how-tos for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Mac OS X.
Want to get really serious about tracking down energy vampires? Consider purchasing a watt meter.
