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Devices like televisions, microwaves, scanners, and printers use standby power, even when off. Some chargers continue to pull small amounts of energy, even when plugged in (a good judge of this is if a charger feels warm to the touch). To avoid paying for these “phantom energy drainers”, use a power strip to turn all devices off at once. Flipping the switch on your power strip has the same effect as unplugging each socket from the wall, preventing phantom energy loss. Studies have found that phantom energy loads account for 5-10% of the total electricity in residential homes and accounts for about 1% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions.* *Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Many people think that turning something off stops it from using electricity, but many appliances keep consuming energy when they are plugged in but not on. An easy way to identify products that use standby power is to see if they have a remote control, continuous digital display (like an LED clock on a microwave), use a rechargeable battery, have a soft touch keypad, or have a large block shaped charger.* *Federal Energy Management Program If 50% of Harvardians who own a printer (assuming 1 in 3) turned them off with a power strip when not in use, we would save approximately:
and that’s just for printers - imagine if we unplug or use a powerstrip on all of our phantom energy drainers!
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