Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories resource for calculating standby power and vampire draw is not new but the information never gets old. Standby power is the power consumed by an appliance when it is turned off and vampire draw refers to charged devices, like cellphones, that continue to consume electricity when fully charged. It’s amazing how much energy is consumed by all of the devices in our homes that are not in use. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory offers clues to easily identify those items:

• Includes remote control
• Has external power supply
• Digital display, LED status light, or digital clock
• Contains a battery charger
• Has soft-touch key-pad

According to LBNL’s FAQ, standby power and vampire draw accounts for 5 – 10% of the electricity we consume. They also point out that with some changes, this could be reduced by 75% .

I’d swear the set-top box DVR for cable tv and satellite was developed by electric companies; it’s the only device I found in the list that consumes nearly as much electricity OFF as it does ON. One of the easy solutions suggested for reducing standby power and vampire draw is the use of power strips because they allow you to disconnect multiple devices at one time.

You probably do not have to get all freakish about reducing standby power and vampire draw; that would be my tendency. So we will re-post this article every 6 months and hopefully each time, you’ll find one area that you can make a change and reduce your consumption.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories resource for calculating standby power and vampire draw is not new but the information never gets old. Standby power is the power consumed by an appliance when it is turned off and vampire draw refers to charged devices, like cellphones, that continue to consume electricity when fully charged. It’s amazing how much energy is consumed by all of the devices in our homes that are not in use. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory offers clues to easily identify those items:

• Includes remote control
• Has external power supply
• Digital display, LED status light, or digital clock
• Contains a battery charger
• Has soft-touch key-pad

According to LBNL’s FAQ, standby power and vampire draw accounts for 5 – 10% of the electricity we consume. They also point out that with some changes, this could be reduced by 75% .

I’d swear the set-top box DVR for cable tv and satellite was developed by electric companies; it’s the only device I found in the list that consumes nearly as much electricity OFF as it does ON. One of the easy solutions suggested for reducing standby power and vampire draw is the use of power strips because they allow you to disconnect multiple devices at one time.

You probably do not have to get all freakish about reducing standby power and vampire draw; that would be my tendency. So we will re-post this article every 6 months and hopefully each time, you’ll find one area that you can make a change and reduce your consumption.