Vampires Be Gone!
Your house is ridden with vampires! They’re not drinking your blood, but they are sucking away your power.
The vampires in this case are your electrical appliances. Even when they appear “off,” many never really go off but instead enter into a stand-by state that continues to drain energy.
The electricity that gets drained away is known as vampire energy, and it amounts to a staggering 10% of all domestic energy consumption in the country. (Put another way, a powered-down but plugged in laptop can use something like 4.42 kilowatts of energy a week whilst never having been touched!) That’s a crazy amount of power going to nothing more than the luxury of being in stand-by.
Advanced powerstrips work exactly like traditional powerstrips but are smarter than average – they actually detect when appliances are not in use or in stand-by mode and “unplug” them on their own.
The Department of Energy estimates that if you’re spending $1,000-2,000/yr on energy costs, you’ll save $100-$200 per year of that by killing your vampires off. Not to mention what you’ll do for your carbon footprint on the planet.
Learn more ways to save on power with LADWP.
Learn more about the assumptions behind Magenta House water and power savings calculations.
DETAILS
Upgrade: Tier 2 Powerstrips
Goal: Replace old powerstrips with tier 2 advanced powerstrips.
Potential Savings: 830-1,670 KWH (kilowatt hours)/yr, $100-$200/yr for normal household.
Skill level: ★☆☆
SAVINGS*
The average home savings calculation is based on the usage needs of a family of four and includes the assumption that you install three Tier-2 powerstrips in critical areas.
These advanced powerstrips will set you back about as much as you’re going to save in the first year (costs are $60 -$150 and yearly energy savings amount to 830-1,670 KWH per home, or $100 to $200). But year after year until you need to replace them, you’ll only see a net gain.
