Sneaky Energy Wasters – Phantom Loads

Love the convenience of a remote control? Channel surfing? Turning off the air conditioner from across the room? Think about it. How many remote controls do you have in your home? How many television sets and cable boxes? These appliances remain partially on, even though they appear to be turned off. Anything that can be powered by a remote control is in some measure “on,” all day, every day, so that it is ready to receive the “on” signal from the remote.

How much electricity do they use? Not much. Approximately 7/10 of a kilowatt-hour. Nevertheless, when you have multiple “phantom” appliances running 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, those kWhs add up.

Anything with a clock–VCRs, coffee makers, microwave ovens, ranges, receivers, etc.–also uses a small amount of power all the time. Anything that uses a "power cube," such as answering machines, hand held video games and electric toothbrushes, uses very tiny amounts of power; maybe only a watt or two, but they are always using electricity. One solution for clocks is battery power. A wall mounted clock runs for nearly a year on a single battery.

Watch out for those small transformers that plug into the wall outlet to power a lower voltage appliance like cell phones. These villainous wastrels are usually very inefficient; usually having around twenty percent efficiency (which means that for every dime's worth of electricity consumed, they throw away six or eight cents worth). You can stop wasting that energy (and money) by pulling the plug.