William Charlson's Blog

 

The Bite

A "phantom load" is the energy that's sapped by appliances when they're plugged in, but not on. Use power strips or manually unplug DVD players, computers and cell phone chargers to save electricity from disappearing without a trace.

The Benefits

• Save big on your energy bills. In the average home, 40% of all electricity is used to power home appliances while they're turned off.
• Lower emissions. If all phantom loads in US homes were stopped, we could shut down 17 power plants.
• Power strips with surge protectors make it easy to "unplug" many appliances at once.

Personally Speaking

NY Biter Cecily Channell uses a power strip that's hooked up to her entertainment system to turn the cable and TV on and off. At first, her roommates complained because it takes a little longer for the cable box to warm up ("They want their HGTV right now!"), but the electric bill savings they saw after a few months convinced 'em.

Wanna Try?

• Isole Plug Load Control - the crème de la crème of powerstrips, it has 8 outlets and an insurance policy ($90).
• Belkin 9-Outlet SurgeMaster - with 9 outlets ($30).
• Intermatic Appliance Timer- use a timer when you're outta town ($21).
• Craftsman Auto Switch - baby-sized surge protector option ($20).
• Kill-A-Watt - find out how much energy various appliances are using ($29).
• Just a word of advice: don't do this with your fridge...

IDEAL BITE IS NOT INTENDED FOR READERS UNDER 18 YEARS OF AGE