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SHIFT: How I became a power-vampire slayer
DVICE writers take a closer look at the latest tech trends in our weekly column, Shift.A few years ago, I had a problem roommate. She was pathologically messy and would sometimes lock herself in her room for days at a time, resurfacing only to microwave plates of turkey bacon, which she would then leave lying around her bedroom. She had another annoying habit: She would unplug the living room's TV whenever she had the chance, something my other roommate and I found endlessly frustrating. She claimed that electronics use electricity even when they're plugged in. I didn't believe her, and figured that even if it were true, it was probably only a small amount — seriously, only crazy people go around unplugging appliances all the time, right?
Wrong. By now, most of us know about "vampire electronics," power-sucking televisions, game consoles, microwaves, radios and phone chargers that waste electricity even when they're turned off. But do we really believe? And how many of us choose to do something about it, risking arched eyebrows from our loved ones as we run around the house turning off surge protectors? Four months ago, I decided to give this "unplug your gadgets" thing a try. Read about the results after the Continue jump.
Just the Facts
The U.S. Department of Energy's website makes the case clearly, writing "In the average home, 75% of the electricity used to power home electronics is consumed while the products are turned off." This isn't news. Good magazine has a useful chart showing just how much vampire energy home electronics take when they're turned off or on standby, using data from 2005.
I read some of the facts about vampire electronics two years after my roommate and I had parted ways, but the fact that she had been right didn't cause me to change my habits. I went right on keeping my surge protectors on and toaster plugged in all of the time. Living in a one-bedroom apartment in New York City, my electric bill has always been pretty low in months where I don't use the air conditioner — it just wasn't something I thought about.
PS3: Power Glutton
That changed recently with the arrival of a new family member: A PlayStation 3. PS3s are notorious energy hogs: One study has shown that if you leave your PS3 on and idling year round, it will use five times as much electricity as a medium-sized refrigerator. I had no intention of leaving my new PS3 on all — or even most — of the time, but I didn't want to take any chances that it was on and idling while I was at work.
I started turning off the surge protector that powers my TV, DVD player and PS3 every time I was done using them. I can't do it with a remote, unfortunately, but I haven't been able to figure out how to turn the PS3 off with a remote either, so it didn't seem like that big a deal. While I was at it, I unplugged the air conditioners (it's winter, after all) and started shutting off the surge protector that has my phone charger on it when I'm not charging my phone.
The Math
The next step was convincing my husband to follow suit. It took just over two months — that's when our lower electric bill started looking like a pattern instead of an aberration. In January and February of 2008 my apartment used just over 5.5 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per day. This year, my average use in January and February was 4 kWh/day. That's a 27% decrease in electricity use, and it's been true consistently since I started turning off surge protectors.
In New York, I pay around 17 cents per kilowatt-hour for electricity and electricity delivery from Con Edison, so we're not talking a huge savings here, at just under $10 a month. But I'm just talking about four power outlets: two for air conditioning and two surge protectors. Most American homes use far more power outlets than I do in my little apartment, and far more electronics that could be unplugged when they're not in use. I don't have a washing machine, Xbox 360 or even a desktop computer. Most people outside of New York City pay less per kWh than I do, so while I can't guarantee that running around the house unplugging things will save you thousands of dollars a year, it could well save you $100.
Enough with the Clocks, Already!
So many gadgets these days have clocks on them. In my house, my microwave and radio have clocks, but it's not unusual today to see clocks on toasters and DVD players as well. Unplugging gadgets means losing these clocks, and having do deal with flashing zeroes when you do use your microwave. I hope that over time electronics companies will kill the clocks, or to make them battery powered so they run separately. In the meantime, wall clocks and watches tell time just as well as a microwave.
Going Green
More and more, companies are coming up with solutions that make turning off your surge protectors easier. Gadgets like the PowerCost Monitor do just that, monitoring your home's power usage in real time so you can adjust your electricity bill before the end of the month. And Belkin's Conserve surge protector has a wall switch so you can turn it off remotely. That switch only turns off six of the gadget's eight outlets, the other two are for things like your DVR or cable modem that you really need to keep on all of the time. This Power-Saving SurgeArrest will automatically turn off secondary computer gadgets (like printers, scanners and speakers) when the computer turns off or goes to sleep.
Green gadgets are great, and over time appliance manufacturers may be able to make goods that use no standby power. But until they do, the best way to make sure that something's not costing you money when you're not using it is to unplug it.
There are plenty of articles out there about how to save money on your utilities. Insulate your house better. Switch to CFLs. Wear sweaters in winter and pull down your blinds in summer. These are all important — especially the bit about insulating your house. But let's focus on something small here. Unplug your gadgets when you're not using them. I did. It does seem crazy and inconvenient at first, but after a couple of months you'll feel virtuous. Not convinced? You'll also feel wealthier.
By izzardfan at 7:15 PM ON 03/12/09
Wow, your washing machine uses electricity when it's not in use? Of course, mine's about 12 years old, so maybe the new ones do. As for my microwave, unplugging it between uses does make the clock useless, but it's also a bigger inconvenience than most: I can't cook anything with the microwave after it's lost power (unplugged or outage) until I first reset the clock. As much as I use it, that would be more than just inconvenient.
Otherwise, great idea!
By JP at 8:01 PM ON 03/12/09
You should check out the GreenEfficientGuide.com, they have on power, standby power and energy costs outlined for TVs and most home electronics.
By Scanner at 8:02 PM ON 03/12/09
Actually ANYTHING that is plugged in has residual usage. It's just that some items use way more. This is a decent prompt for me to re-examine my apartment and figure ways to cut my electricity bill by not having items I don't use ALL the time plugged in. Every penny counts these days...
By dragonhung at 10:52 PM ON 03/12/09
Would love to see a change in house wiring also - have a switch on the wall, much like a standard lightswitch - it controls a series of outlets that you can plug in your tv, stereo, and those other things that don't need power all the time. When you come into the room, you flip the switch and they get power. Just remember not to plug in your alarm clock into one!
By DocDoc at 1:20 AM ON 03/13/09
I bought a couple of remote controlled power outlets after Christmas. They were designed for turning on/off Christmas lights, but work just fine in making sure all my computer gear isn't sucking down power in the "off" state.
Doc
By Carlito at 1:25 AM ON 03/13/09
WOW im unplugging my PS3 now!! and the plasma Tv too, nice article, greets from Mexico
By aussie at 5:08 AM ON 03/13/09
In Australia the plug outlets on always have switches in them to turn off the outlet, so you don't have to ruin your plugs pulling them in and out, this is also safer if you decide to go shoving forks inside the sockets. When I went to the US I found it weird that they don't have them.
By Sebrian_xx at 5:52 AM ON 03/13/09
Well, this is all very virtuous, but:
[rant on] keep in mind that we (private users) are not the bulk of electricity usage in the big picture. First there should be laws in every country of the world which restrain industries and enterprises, as long as offices and so on, to keep all their damn lights switched off during night time, after closing their services to the public. Here in Italy we keep seeing vast (and empty) parking lots and ads fully lit during all night time, even when these places are closed to the public and people aren't working in them. That is a BIG chunk of power if they do that (and they do) 365 days per year. And they (governmet, electric companies) say that the standby light on my tv does the difference. May be it does, but i hate when someone lectures me when he is doing wrong in the first place.I'm responsible of the power I waste in useless manners, are you of your's? [/rant off]
By Sebrian_xx at 5:53 AM ON 03/13/09
Sorry for the double post, had some refreshing problems.
By wintermute44 at 9:03 AM ON 03/13/09
Not to be cynical or negative, but... Have you considered that wandering around unplugging things may have just made you more observent of when you shut things off and that's how you really saved energy? The real way to guage the effect of 'vampire energy' would just be arithmetic. Buy a guage to measures the amount of energy the PS3, for example, uses when it's off. kw x estimated hours the unit is off x $.16/kwh = $ wasted energy. Anything else is measureing the cost savings from behavior modification and not just the device. This reminds me of the Quaker Oats claim to reduce Cholesterol. Yes, if you eat oats every morning instead of bacon and fried eggs, your cholesterol will go down. Should the Quaker Oats get credit for the reduction, or the fact that you're not eating bacon?
By Kaywak at 10:31 AM ON 03/13/09
For anyone with electric heating, you are not saving a single nickle with this strategy - at least during the heating months. A watt is a watt when it comes to heating your home - it doesn't matter whether it is coming from your electric heater, or a light bulb, or a PS3. If you turn off the lights and unplug your appliances and electronics, it just means your heater has to work that much harder to heat your home.
Of course, during the Summer months it works the other way around; any heat source that you can reduce or eliminate means that your air conditioner has to work that much less hard as well.
By anova at 10:36 AM ON 03/13/09
@ Sebrian_xx, I agree that companies bear a huge responsibility in this way for wasting power. The company I work for insists that we leave our computers on all night so they can be accessed remotely by IT (about 15 in this office) along with leaving lights on and of course all the printers and copy machines. Of course there’s the fact that I also live in Las Vegas… where until recently you where greeted while driving into town by huge lit-up billboards made up of presumably LED lights advertising for the casinos complete with animations and changes in images which where powered by their own individual diesel generators 24/7. Now I assume because of the economy these have been replaced with regular bill boards.. And beyond that… it’s Vegas, the city of Neon and all that crap. Not to say it is not our responsibility, because it most certainly is.
By Al at 1:26 PM ON 03/13/09
It's always interesting to note that all the ideas for saving electricity keep falling on those who have no choice in using the electronics.
Unless you want to live without technology or communication with the outside world (or entertainment) you will always have some plugged in items that will be a hassle to unplug.
Why do we need to unplug these anyway? My computer has an enegry saving option to power down my monitor and hard drive if I leave it alone long enough. Why not pass on that concept to the rest of the machines in our homes?
If we are the ones being made responsible for energy usage who is responsible for the energy draining appliances being made and sold?
By cjhtwo at 9:43 PM ON 04/13/09
I don't know if anyone will read tis a month later, but...
For things that are inconvenient to unplug I bought a kind of extension cord that you plug your device into and it has another cord with a switch at the end that controls the outlet. I have my rack system plugged into it so I just turn it on before I turn on my stereo system. I've got my electric blanket plugged into one too so when I turn it off before I go to sleep there's absolutely no power going to it. I have my computer an dall of the peripherals plugged into one surge protector that is easily accessible.
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I don't know if anyone will read tis a month later, but... For things that are inconvenient to unplug I bought a ki...More »