BLOG OF iECYCLE

Phantom power leeching, the process by which sleeping electronics still draw energy from the power grid, is a problem easily solved! Though, many of us are not even aware of this drainage in our power supply and in our wallets. Phantom, wasted energy represents about 10 percent of the power usage in a house’s energy bill each month. Consumer Reports averages the amount of money wasted on phantom power to be about $110 per household per year. Let us step back for a moment and remember that we’re all in this together, and our impact is clearly collective. “That $110 might not seem like a lot of money to you, but it adds up to $11 billion each year and more than 108 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh)—or about 8 percent of the annual electricity consumption by the more than 105.5 million U.S. households” (Blogs.ConsumerReports.org). That’s a lot of wasted power – equating in unnecessary coal burning, natural gas drilling, nuclear waste, or even solar panel production for power we didn’t even want.

Think right now- about all the items in your house that are plugged in while not in use. The common house has an assortment of kitchen appliances (blender, toaster oven, coffee maker, microwave), stereo units, home speakers, VCR/DVD systems, desktop computers and monitors, printers, phone chargers, televisions, fax machine etc., all plugged in though certainly not all in use at once!

In order to reduce your power usage, unplugging these devices is the first logical leap. Though, this is may not be so convenient or accessible for daily routine. A simple solution is to plug these appliances into a power bar, strip or ’surge suppressor’, with only one switch to turn on and off multiple devices. You could ‘bundle’ devices by area and place each power strip in a convenient location. There are some tools one can buy, like an Energy Detective, which reveal how much power is leaked. You can read more about this investigation here: (http://bats22.blogspot.com/2009/03/chasing-after-phantoms.html). Though, we must not get wrapped up in even more consumption. The most effective way to be energy and environmentally friendly is to first REDUCE!

The addition of another ‘product’ is indeed more consumption, so instead of ordering a power strip on Amazon or heading to Home Dept, I urge you to take a trip out to a local secondhand/thrift store and look at their appliance or electronic section. You may be impressed! So… unplug appliances or plug-in a power strip, and start saving money and salvaging unnecessary waste today!

**Always remember: First REDUCE then REUSE then RECYCLE!

Sources:
energysavers.gov
consumerreports.org
planetgreen.discovery.com
bats22.blogspot.com