Slaying the Energy Vampires

It's hard to avoid wasting a little energy here and there. But everyone can take a bite out of energy-wasting, money-sucking vampires in their homes.

These vampires are gadgets and appliances that use power even when they're turned off -- running up your utility bill and generating unnecessary carbon dioxide at the electricity plant.

For my hunt, I included devices that my husband and I could turn off but that we tend to leave on or in sleep mode when we aren't using them. The Cornell University Cooperative Extension estimates that the typical home has about 20 true vampires lurking around. Most are home electronics or portable gadgets that need to be recharged. The Energy Department estimates that home electronics consume 75% of the total juice they use while they're turned off.

Here's how I attempted to ferret out these creatures:

The Terrapass blog points out that if items such as chargers feel warm even when nothing is attached to them, they're probably wasting power. But a more high-tech way to go about vampire-slaying is with a Kill-A-Watt EZ, an electricity usage calculator that you can buy online for around $60.

I tested a Kill-A-Watt and found it pretty easy to use. I typed in the amount I pay per kilowatt-hour for electricity (I got the rate from my bill), then plugged the Kill-A-Watt into a wall and plugged various devices into it to get projections for how much each one costs to run on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis. I could also leave a device plugged into it to keep a running tally of actual electricity consumption.