Electronic appliances constitute for about 20 percent of the power consumption in an average American household. These electronic appliances include everything right from the dryer and dishwasher to the computer and television. That being said, you can save this 20 percent energy consumption by stopping the use of these appliances.
That, however, is not quite possible, considering that we are dependent on these appliances to a significant extent. Just restricting the use of these appliances in your day to day life or ‘unplugging’ them when not in use, can help you save a great deal of power, and the entire concept of unplugging appliances to save energy revolves around this basic fact.
At times, several electronic appliances tend to absorb power from the power grid, when they are not actually in use. This standby power is used by these appliances to keep the electric hedge clippers charged. The power which is derived from the idle appliances is known as the idle current or the phantom load. One of the best example of such an equipment is a cell phone charger. You may not even realize that a charger plugged on to the power strip is drawing power even when your cell phone is not being charged. Other than the cell phone charger, other equipment chargers such as that of a laptop, digital camera or any other power tool also absorbs energy in significant amounts, even when they are switched off.
In an average American home, there are 40 devices which have the tendency to derive power from the grid even when they are not ‘on’. Even though chargers are the most notorious devices when it comes to such power thefts, there are other appliances, including your television, computer and music player, printer, etc., which have the tendency to rob you off the power without you getting the hint of power loss. An estimated 10 percent of the electricity is lost owing to this process. This lost power is referred to as the vampire power or phantom power. Unplugging these equipments can minimize the loss, and therefore is considered to be one of the convenient measure of saving energy. Read more on energy saving.
The quantity of power absorbed by these devices may be a very little, but over a period of time it can amount to a significant (unnecessary) usage. As we mentioned earlier, it is estimated that the energy loss attributed to these equipments can amount to about 10 percent of your monthly energy consumption. This may sound trivial again, but going by numbers, even if you are able to save this amount of energy, your eleventh month energy consumption would be absolutely free, though not literally, but through your savings. Read more on save money on electric bill.
Even though unplugging appliances to save energy is a convenient measure of saving power, you will also have to resort to a few other energy saving tips simultaneously. You can’t possibly opt for unplugging electronics to save energy all the time. In such a scenario, you can plug a group of devices, which are related to each other (for instance the television and the speakers), on to a single power strip.
This will also make it easier for you to switch off all the devices, and unplug them at once. Such simple measures can work wonders in the long term, and therefore getting used to them can be beneficial to a great extent.