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Scared into action: avoid vampire currents

Wednesday, November 1, 2006



TreeHugger TV published this scary video this week about the energy our electrical devices draw when they're not even turned on. According to the video:

40% of microwaves use more power when not in use than when cooking food.

Standby power consumes 7-25% of a home's electricity bill.

Americans spend more money powering home audio devices and televisions when they are turned off than when they are actually in use.

That's right. Turning everything off when you leave the house isn't enough. To ensure that you aren't losing energy to phantom currents, either unplug devices when not in use or use power strips that can accommodate many plugs and cut energy flow to them through one main switch. And watch out for those cell phone chargers. Only 5% of the power drawn by cell phone chargers is actually used to charge phones. The other 95% is consumed when the charger is left plugged in with no phone attached to it.

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