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Vampire drain. If you’re anything like me, you know full well it’s happening, but that nugget of guilt-inducing knowledge is tucked wayyyy back in that I’ll take care of it tomorrow part of your brain. But tomorrow, as they say, never comes. I’m hereby excavating my good intentions from the do-nothing recesses of my consciousness with this blog post! This month’s issue of the ever-relevant Good magazine features a cute infographic about vampire drain (infographics: you know you love ‘em), with some handy info about the worst power drain offenders (click the link to see the whole thing).
According to the Department of Energy, vampire drain costs Americans about $3 billion a year extra on their power bills. That’s about five percent of all power used in this country, and according to some government estimates, vampire drain could account for 20% of all power used by 2020. Some of the worst offenders are plasma TVs (leaving them on “standby” mode will cost you about $150 extra per year) and next-gen gaming consoles ($25). Armed with these facts, I decided to do a little inventory of my appliances and gadgets, and see how much they’re costing me while I’m not even using them:
Desktop computer ($34.81), laptop computer ($15.90), phone charger (2 x $.77), inkjet printer ($12.83), wireless router ($9.08), microwave ($3.85), gaming console ($25), DVR ($9.50), cable box ($9.25), plasma TV ($159), cordless phone base station ($3.18), clock radio ($1.50)
Grand total = 275.94. That’s pretty significant, and it doesn’t include the costs of running the refrigerator and security system, which are on 24/7.
How much power are vampires sucking out of your house?
Comments (12)
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Yoiks! I thought I was doing a good job replacing incandescent bulbs with fluorescent bulbs, energy saver appliances and the like…now I have to go home and unplug everything….eek!
posted by Chris Thorpe on 1-9-2008 at 11:13 am
Our LCD TV has the option to turn standby mode off. It takes an extra couple of seconds to turn on, but I think that’s worth $150.
posted by Andiscandis on 1-9-2008 at 12:44 pm
Let’s See: 4 LCDs, Computer, Game Console, Microwave, Electric Toothbrush, Inkjet Printer, Clock Radio, Cable Box, Router, Cable modem
That puts me at just over $100 a year. But the convenience of not having to wait for the computer to boot up, my cable box to download the guide and having my internet always on offsets that.
Plasma Tvs though…ouch!
posted by kenny on 1-9-2008 at 12:49 pm
When I first saw the list my initial thought was “but the convenience”. However, it dawned on me later all the items I leave plugged up that I don’t use that often.
Yes, it is worth leaving the TV plugged up because it is watched so often (and it is not plasma). But the radio in the garage, the toaster, or the lamps that are not used that often. I think they are worth unplugging.
posted by elizabeth on 1-9-2008 at 1:11 pm
We have a house full of power strips that you can switch off. We put things on strips in groups so you would have all of group 1 working at the same time or, group 2 at the same time and so forth. TV, cable box, VCR, DVD together. Etc. We like to think it helps.
posted by nicole on 1-9-2008 at 1:43 pm
Is there any truth or additional commentary on this response left at GOOD’s website
“Every time you completely turn your appliance off and back on when you want to use it you are burning out the components more quickly than if you leave it on standby!
Also, the environmental cost of producing a new TV for you to buy far outweighs the environmental cost of you leaving your TV on standby mode!”
posted by snowcrash22 on 1-9-2008 at 4:30 pm
I’d tell you if I could get these darn zombies out of the kitchen!!
posted by Higgins on 1-9-2008 at 5:29 pm
Strange thing about this, though. If you leave your computer plugged in and on for 24 hours, it uses less power than to boot it up once.
So yeah, the drain is bad, but not as bad as turning things on and off all the time. Why doesn’t the department of energy start working on renewable energy so we don’t have to worry about conserving? The technology is there, someone’s keeping it from going mainstream.
posted by Connor Towle on 1-9-2008 at 6:56 pm
About the accelerated aging when you turn on an appliance, it is not a universal rule. A good indication that there is a high (stress-inducing) inrush current at power-up is when the appliance makes transient noises (my old CRT TV buzzes for around 1 second) or dims the lights upon power-up. Such high power-up loads do take a toll, often significant, off the life of the appliance.
But just being on for no reason also takes a (much smaller) toll. Take the average 60W lightbulb: 1,000 hours life, or about 42 days when left on. But if you use it 4 hours a day and then turn it off, it may cost you 10% of the bulb’s life to switch it on & off, but it will still last 225 days, clearly a winning situation.
Over-voltage conditions (when the lights get momentarily brighter) often take a much heavier toll than switching the appliance on and off. For example, a single surge can easily reduce the life of a lightbulb by 10% or more, and a prolonged surge (> 2 second) will often burn it out. Thus, turning appliances off when not in use usually makes a lot of sense, even if you don’t consider the power savings.
The environmental cost of fabricating a new device is definitely significant, but this can be reduced enormously by making sure that everything is properly recycled.
posted by Bert on 1-9-2008 at 7:26 pm
I turned everything off at the power strip. I got a blue screen on my computer, and the tech said not to turn it off at the strip. My satellite updates at night, and wouldn’t function when turned off. Any advice?
posted by Barbara on 1-9-2008 at 8:09 pm
I don’t believe it.
At 10 cents per Kilo-Watt Hour, $275 is 2750 KWH. That seems like a lot, especially if it’s power that’s only being used when everything is on standby mode.
I’ll see, though, because for the last month, I’ve turned everything off when not in use. This month’s bill (coming any day now!) should tell me.
posted by Moon on 1-9-2008 at 8:18 pm
As a senior electronics designer, I certainly don’t believe in the numbers given above. Those were clearly derived from published values, which are all worst case maximum, and thus never attained in real life.
A (properly designed) satellite receiver in standby mode would hardly draw more than a couple watts, while a fully charged cordless phone on its cradle (base & handset) would use a few milliwatts at most (the battery’s trickle charge current).
The average microwave oven, showing time and awaiting input? I cannot think of more than 1/2W, and that’s with a super-bright, oversized display.
And there’s one thing that is definitely not taken into consideration in the numbers above: whatever the real power figure is, it all ends up as heat. As most North-American residences need to be heated anyway for at least some portion of the year, the true yearly cost is definitely not what is advertised here (basically, there is no “wasted” electricity during winter time).
posted by Bert on 1-9-2008 at 9:39 pm