Did you know that vampires are real? Well, electrical vampires that is. The vampires that we are talking about here do not drain human blood. But they drain from your energy bill. We are talking about electronics that have “idle load.”
Idle load is when devices continue to consume a fair amount of power even when they’re “off.” These are your TV sets, your tablet or Smartphone charger, your video player, and other gadgets and appliances that are commonly left plugged in for extended periods of time.
Idle loads not only consume unnecessary power and empty your wallet of a few bucks, but there is also a negative impact on the environment. Every bit of power wasted is a bit of effort that was wasted to generate that power, or a bit of pollution enters the environment.
Luckily, with a few simple changes you can minimize idle loads and save on your energy expenses. While somethings you may need on 24/7, like your fridge, you do not need your DVD player on constantly. Try adding surge protectors to devices that are off just as much as they are on. This will allow you to turn off multiple devices at once and truly cut their power source to avoid idle load.
If you want to up the ante, consider installing smart surge protectors. These surge protectors detect the flow of power to devices on an outlet or the lack of. If no power, other than an idle load, is flowing for a considerable amount of time the surge protector will cut off the supply entirely to that outlet until the used wattage increases, triggering a full return of power. You can also upgrade your devices themselves to smart or energy efficient versions.
With a little effort from all of us, small changes could lead to big savings in energy and the environment.