EcoSherpa Unplugged

I experienced a little bit o’ serendipity this morning. For whatever reason I was idly staring at my plugged-in coffee maker (yes, my life is THAT exciting!), when it occurred to me that it should be unplugged since I was finished using it.
In and of itself this was a cool little bit of progress for yours truly, since awareness of wastefulness is always an important first step. Interestingly enough, this morning’s Ideal Bite newsletter discusses “phantom loads” (energy lost when appliances and electronics are turned off but still plugged in).

I just KNEW I had to write a sherpa tip on the subject today (aside from that, its been awhile since we brought you new tips)!

This idea of phantom load is something I’ve heard of before, but like most people I’m sure I’ve honestly never really given it much thought.
Two statements in the Ideal Bite newsletter certainly made me sit up and take notice however.

• In the average home, 40% of all electricity is used to power home appliances while they’re turned off.
• If all phantom loads in US homes were stopped, we could shut down 17 power plants.

WOW! I had no idea it was such a significant energy drain. Needless to say I’ll be making much more of an effort to unplug things when not in use - I’m sure it will drive my wife bonkers, but alas that is sometimes the price one has to pay when trying to be eco-responsible!

A great idea recommened by Ideal Bite is using power bars - this way you can essentially unplug/plug-in a bunch of things all at once, thus saving some of the hassles involved.

Technorati Tags: saving energy, power saving, energy saving tips, phantom load, power bars, Ideal Bite

Written by Bentley on October 11th, 2006 with no comments.
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