If you’re like most people, you probably don’t think of your energy bill as a vampire. But in reality, your energy bill is actually a vampire that sucks the life out of your wallet. And if you want to stop it, there are some simple steps you can take. The first step is to be aware of how much energy you’re using. If you have an energy audit done, it will show how much energy each appliance in your home is using and what the average usage is for that type of appliance. This information can help you identify where you’re wasting energy and make changes to reduce your overall consumption. Another way to save on your energy bill is to use less electricity when possible. For example, turn off lights when you leave a room or turn off appliances when they’re not in use. You can also try installing smart thermostats that will turn off appliances when the temperature in the house drops below a certain level. If saving money isn’t an option for you, then consider switching to green power sources like solar or wind power. These sources of renewable energy are becoming more and more affordable as technology improves and prices continue to drop. Plus, they produce zero emissions which is great for the environment. Whatever steps you take to save on your energy bill, make sure to do it gradually so that you don’t shock yourself with an unexpected increase in costs down the road." ..
Learn About Energy Vampires
The easiest way to successfully cut back on energy vampires and the wasteful phantom loads they introduce to your home’s power consumption is to know more about them in general.
We can’t possibly tell you about every energy vampire in your home, but we can educate you about them—and in doing so, help you hunt them down.
Over the course of a year, energy vampires can cost you hundreds of dollars in wasted electricity so it really does pay off to find them and make adjustments to how you use devices around your home to save on your electric bill.
Start With These Common Energy Vampires
While every home is unique, many common energy vampires are found in millions of homes. You likely have a dozen or more of them in the different areas of your home.
Set-top boxes for cable and satellite services are notorious energy vampires, as are modern video game consoles with all the features turned on. And you might be shocked to find out how much energy your smart TVs use in standby mode, prompting you to unplug the ones in lesser-used rooms.
Unplug Everything You’re Not Using By Default
Speaking of unplugging things, you can’t go wrong getting in the habit of unplugging things you aren’t using.
We’re long-time watt meter users, constantly testing things in and around our homes to see how much energy they use. And you’d be absolutely shocked to see how many things you’d never suspect are just wasting energy around the clock even when you aren’t using them.
How much power do you think a power tool battery charger uses when there isn’t even a battery on it charging, for example? You’d assume zero, but when we tested all of our chargers for different power tool platforms, we found they averaged 5 watts of idle power. That doesn’t seem like a lot, but you’re spending about $5 a year as a type of “tax” just for having the thing plugged in.
Between those chargers and everything else that uses a few watts of idle power, it adds up fast and you’re paying a pretty being convenience tax for leaving everything you own plugged in all the time ready to go.
Put Devices on Power Strips or Smart Plugs
If you have a bunch of things that you only need turned on when you’re right there using them, it can be quite handy to put them on a power strip. Then when you need to use them, just give the switch a nudge with your foot and temporarily power them up.
If the plug or powerstrip placement makes it difficult to turn them on and off by hand (say, the power strip is behind a big piece of furniture) you might consider using a smart plug or power strip.
Not only does that allow you to wirelessly turn the power on and off, but it also let’s you lean on the smart features to do more advanced things, like have the strip turn on around the time you get home from work and turn off at midnight, so you never need to fuss with it by hand.
