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Where The Hive Decides What’s Healthy

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Every single day, about 20 appliances, gadgets and electronic devices quietly suck cash and electricity from the American home.

Left plugged in, these “vampires” leak energy even when they’re switched off, draining consumers of at least $3 billion a year, says energy expert Mark Pierce, a Cooperative Extension associate in the Department of Design and Environmental Analysis in Cornell’s College of Human Ecology. According to Pierce’s research, you and I and everyone else we know pay an extra $200 every year, unless we unplug unused devices.

That’s a good chunk of change! And if you’re like the average American, you’re already shelling out at least $110 each month for your utilities, helping to make the U.S. the second largest energy consumer, right behind China—despite the fact they have a billion more people than we do. The reasons Americans use so much more energy per capita are simple: We’re wealthy and wasteful. Can we as a society shrink our wasteful ways and do more good for our planet? It’s easier than you think.

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EPA data shows that slightly less than half of the total energy the U.S. gobbles up is used to generate electricity. That means that if you want to save energy, your wallet, and the planet, then electricity is the place to start—regardless of ongoing debates about which type of energy is best. By the way has anyone tried those new electron-stimulated luminescence light bulbs?

Fortunately, the most effective ways to use less electricity are incredibly basic. For example, turn down the heat. This one simple step makes a huge difference. If every American turned the thermostat down a couple of degrees, we’d save 500,000 barrels of oil each day.

Here are four more super simple steps you can take to become a smarter energy consumer. Try one—or better yet, try all of these strategies to slash energy waste.

1. Slay The Vampires

A whopping 75 percent of the electricity consumption in the average home comes from those vampire devices that are turned off but still plugged in. The list of most frequent offenders includes coffee makers, cell phones, toasters (you’re not still eating that evil wheat, are you?), and computers. Additionally, constantly charging your cell phone and MP3 player not only spikes your energy costs, it can also damage your chargers. Paying for these “vampire” appliances can total up to 10 percent of your monthly utility bill, so unplug ’em already!

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2. Flip The Switch

According to John Bender, a supervisor with Pacific Gas & Electric Company, simply turn off lights, fans, and electric appliances you don’t need on and reduce your utility costs by 15 percent. Presto, change-o! “Controlling your energy usage is key to reducing costs,” he says. Customers who selectively controlled their energy usage told Bender that they saw “a dramatic decrease in their monthly utility bill.” Bender also recommends using light switch timers, motion detectors and fluorescent bulbs whenever possible to subtract even more from the electric bill.

3. Seal Your ‘Shell’

It’s hard to conserve energy during the winter, but if you haven’t taken the time to seal your home’s exterior “shell,” you may be paying to heat your front yard as well as your living room. Properly sealing the exterior of your home (outer walls, ceilings, windows, floors, and doors) prevents air leaks, one of the top sources of heat loss. Experts say a good seal job can take up to 10 percent off your annual heating bill, meaning you stand to save more than $200 each year.

4. Get Smart

You don’t need fancy technical upgrades to save energy. However, one nifty new invention can substantially curb your electricity usage by solving a long-standing dilemma: heating an empty house. Thermostats automatically adjust based on outside weather conditions, so even if you’re out of the house, your heating or cooling systems are hard at work. Enter the “smart thermostat.” Ronnie Kweller, spokeswoman for the Alliance to Save Energy, says the smart thermostat can save users up to $180 a year. Smart thermostats offer a range of costs and features. The most useful are the “super smart” models that can be controlled by your smart phone. You can program these so that your system won’t kick in until it knows (based on your phone’s proximity) that you’re heading home.

Electric Avenue

So what are you waiting for? Grab your smart phone or laptop and locate the nearest dealer of “smart thermostats.” On your way out of your well-sealed and insulated door, double check that you’ve flipped off all those switches and unplugged those pesky “vampires.” Congratulations, you just protected your wallet and the world.

Photo by Orange Steeler/Flickr.

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2 thoughts on “Slaying ‘Vampires’ To Save Planet And Pocketbook”

  1. “According to John Bender, a supervisor with Pacific Gas & Electric Company, simply turn off lights, fans, and electric appliances you don’t need on and reduce your utility costs by 15 percent.”

    John Bender fails to mention that it really doesn’t matter what you do to save energy in an attempt to lower your PG&E bill because Pacific Gas & Electric has been increasing their rates in a wild and unchecked manner for a decade now. Anyone read the inserts that are thrown in with your bill? They increase the price of electricity just because they bought out a smaller, insubstantial power company and now the consumer has the pleasure of fitting the bill. Awesome!!

    It doesn’t matter what these giant power companies say about saving energy and money! The fact is we as the consumer are paying exponentially more for less power. Because when they beg us to conserve energy, so there is more to go around, they’re not making as much money. And when they aren’t making as much money, they increase the price per kilowatt. It’s a scam and a farce! And these articles are nothing but nonsense because of it!

  2. #1 Slay the vampire is totally wrong! Plugged in but, turned off coffee makers, cell phones, and toasters do not use any significant amount of electricity at all. If it costs you 10 cents a year to leave a cell phone charger, coffee maker or toaster plugged in, is it worth your time to unplug them and plug them back in? This vampire thing is all a media hype and is is way off base. There are many more important things to be concerned about than ‘vampire’ consumption.
    How you use air conditioning and electrical heat are much more important. Whether or not all the lights you regularly use are all CFL or LED is far more important.

    Older satellite boxes, cable boxes and video game consoles do draw a ‘vampire load’. But an unplugged satellite box takes a fair amount of time to restart and set up. Cable companies do not like you unplugging there boxes either. I would unplug all three of those boxes if I was going to not use them for a week. You can also call your tv provider to request the new generation energy efficient boxes they now have.

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