By Lisa Van Orman Hadley

How about a scary story in honor of Halloween? What if I told you there are vampires in your house right now? They’re lurking on kitchen counters and bedside tables and hiding in your entertainment centers. These clandestine vampires suck away your home’s energy and needlessly cost the average homeowner two hundred bones per year. Creepy, right?

Energy vampires are appliances and other electronics that use energy when they’re plugged in—even when they’re turned off. Some of the most common offenders are electronics with standby capabilities (TVs and computer monitors, for example), anything with a digital clock display (microwaves), or remote control (DVD players and stereo systems).

It might not be practical to plug in your microwave and reset the clock every time you use it, but some energy vampires are more easily slayed than others. TVs, DVD players and computers can be easily unplugged, especially if you use a surge-protected power strip with an on/off switch. And a lot of those vampires can be warded off if you unplug everything  before you go on vacation, too.

Check out how much energy your appliances use here, and then let’s show those vampires who’s boss.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 at 6:05 am and is filed under Hint of Green. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.