And you've probably heard how people that drive cars with miles-per-gallon (MPG) feedback meters actually improve their driving efficiency. Whether cars or houses, these studies have all shown anywhere from 5% to 18% reduction in use when direct feedback monitors are used.
And consider this:
According to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the average US household has forty or more devices constantly drawing power.
It's a simple concept to measure power usage, and for household use there are a number of solutions ranging from simple plug-in devices to whole house meters
that are placed in your electrical box. Today we're going to talk about one of the simplest to use meters available - one that is highly proven with a strong market reputation. It's the Kill A Watt EZ
. This solution will not only allow you to understand just how much power your TV, air purifier, or computer uses, but will help you identify dreaded vampire power users.Detecting Vampire or Phatom Power Sources
The Kill-A-Watt EZ works by plugging whatever device you want to measure into the Kill-a-watt socket, and then plugging the Kill-A-Watt into the wall. The LCD display will indicate watts being consumed, voltage, and frequency. It will accumulate kilowatt-hour (KwH) readings over time, and you can even plug in your utility rate to see how whatever you are measuring is costing you.For me, I primarily use the watts reading, and simply use the Power Calculator on this site to determine KwH and cost. But it has been indispensable in determining what my "vampire power" sources are.
Vampire power refers to appliances, electronics, or other electrical components that draw power even when turned 'off'. In some cases there are valid reasons - the best example might be a digital video recorder. A DVR must always draw some power to keep track of time and to be available to record based on your preset recording schedule. In other cases, vampire power is simply a convenience factor that could be sacrificed (i.e. it allows your appliance to immediately turn on, as opposed to having to wait 5 seconds).
Common Vampire Power Sources
Lawrence Livermore Labs has an excellent tabular summary of vampire power sources. A few common examples include:| Common Vampire Power Sources |
|---|
| CD Player |
| Computer Monitors |
| Computer Printers |
| Computer Speakers |
| Computers |
| DVD Player |
| Game Consoles |
| Home Entertainment Systems/Stereos |
| Microwave Ovens |
| Subwoofer |
| Television Sets |
| Television Set Top Boxes |
Every device is different, and some are worse offenders than others. However, there are simple solutions for cases when multiple devices are clustered near each other (computer systems and home entertainment systems are excellent examples).
Killing Vampires At Home
A perfect example in my home is my primary home entertainment center. Excluding my DVR and satellite box, my components draw 22 watts combined. By controlling that with a Smart Strip
, I am able to reduce my power costs by $16 per year. Now consider most of us have multiple TV's, multiple computers, hand vacuums, etc, and you may be able to achieve some substantial savings, just form identifying vampire sources.Using the Kill A Watt
, I was also able to confirm the importance of hibernating my computer when not in use, and using the power savings features in Windows and other computer operating systems. This has affected my habits, and made me more conscious of what is consuming how much power. See my post Four Ways to Reduce Computing Costs by $100 Or More for more information on that.One last note - Belkin has recently announced a power cost monitor
that looks to have promise, though I've yet to use it. The obvious benefit of the Belkin is that the readout is connected to the outlet by a cord, allowing you to more comfortably read the LCD display without having to use an extension cord. I'll be interested in hearing first hand experiences with this new unit.
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