Thieves in the Night !
October 1, 2011
Thieves in the Night
We’ve got to hope the family back home doesn’t read any of this or there will be no surprises for Christmas this year. It sounds a little premature to be thinking of Christmas, but the snow’s going to fly any day now and that’s a sure indicator that Christmas will follow soon.
If you have a student or family member that rents their own place, and pays their own electrical bills, you can save them a lot of money by buying them a certain Christmas present. The little gadget we’re referring to is an Energy Use Monitor designed to reveal energy wasters in your home. These energy wasters are known as "phantom power."
Lots of people already know about phantom power. My dad was an electrician, and so I know that the concept and understanding of phantom power has been around for some time. Back when I was growing up, people called it vampire electricity. It’s called this because we don’t even know it’s there stealing our power and our money. Like thieves in the night!
Energy Use Monitor
The little Energy Use Monitors that we’re flogging as a gift idea can be a useful tool to help develop an appreciation for the areas in your home where there is loss of power through phantom energy or areas that are posing other energy conservation challenges. They come in different shapes, sizes and brands, but essentially they all do the same thing. They read the amount of energy that is going through your appliances, tools and computers; essentially anything that is plugged in to a power outlet. With this gadget you can read the energy draw of plugins and appliance when they are turned on, when they are turned off and when they are on standby. As long as there is something plugged into the wall it is drawing current that is adding to your energy consumption and power bills, and this can be significant. So let’s give you a very common household example.
Energy Use Example
We have an old PC (desktop) computer that we use at home. We used the meter to determine its power needs.
Computer, Internet and Printer on all the time (180watts draw) converts to about 129 kWh/month.
Computer, Internet and Printer completely off converts to about 11.5kWh /month.
Yes it is still drawing power even though the computer is off. That’s a lot of wasted energy! The little gadget will help to calculate just how much power that is.
But if the computer and all accessories are switched off at the power bar, that adds up to 0 kWh /month.
Power Bars
Most of us have a power bar that we plug our computer into. It is equipped with an on/off switch so we can actually turn it off when we want to. This is what it’s designed for. Generally it beams a constant red glow at the switch. But people don’t bother to shut off the power bar even though that is the main feature and purpose of the tool. As you can see from our home readings, when the power bar is turned off the energy output is a big fat zero.
For anyone paying their own electric bill it adds up to a huge savings to turn off power bars and unplug devices. This little gadget may help convince your student or renter (and homeowner for that matter) to take action against the thieves, save money and conserve energy all at the same time.
Identify Phantom Power Sources
To identify the culprits guilty of stealing your power, consider starting with appliances that have remotes attached to them, as they are always on stand-by to communicate with the remote so they are always drawing power. Items that have a little transformer that heats up (such as chargers) are also guilty of stealing energy.
If we could all take action against these power phantoms, it would add up to huge energy savings for our community.
Incidentally...
We recently purchased a new laptop computer. When the computer and Internet are turned on all the time with no printer, the new laptop draws 40 to 42 watts, which converts to about 28 kWh /month. That is compared to the 113 kWh/month that the old PC desktop would use under the same conditions.
It would be interesting to hear of other people’s computer experiences with new vs old and laptop vs desktop.
We recently did a project in school about this and found out that phantom power is responsible for about 10% of the energy draw in most houses. It certainly made me more aware of the power we use in our house. One thing that we learnt was that if an appliance or piece of electronics has an adaptor, the easiest way to tell if it's still drawing power when the device is switched off is if the adaptor is warm. We were made aware of the fact that if a appliance is plugged in, it is basically on "Stand By" waiting for us to use it. Makes me think differently of the toaster when I look at it........It's ready to spring into action whenever I need it.... Same with the TV or my X -Box.
My Mom and Dad have made some changes in the house--
-In our office they have receptacles controlled by a wall switch. This is a good idea as it makes sure all of the equipment and lights in that room are shut off when not in use and it makes it easier to shut off things--you don't have to crawl under the desk to turn off and off a powerstrip.
-In our bathroom and the walk in closet they have installed a motion switch--so that when you walk in, the lights turn on and then when you walk out, the lights turn off.
Every little bit helps.....
Joshua L
Thanks K-Ks!
Marsh Lake Gal
Great tip, Joshua L. I am going to look into that.
We want to look into that motion control for our bathroom as that seems to be the place where we have the greatest problem with the light being left on...it's actually pretty constant. We've thought about a timer that goes on for 5 or 10 minutes but our switch is actually outside of the bathroom on the wall, so if your in the middle of some serious bathroom business and the light goes out then what. ..
The motion detector seems to make sense. Now that would draw power as it is always on standby but I suspect it would be minimal (like .5 watt or something). Any suggestions on what type of sensor as the only ones I've ever seen are these big things in the corner of our office that look like cameras!
Also it is interesting that your school made an assignment related to this. I noticed in the "energy matters" section of this website that they are going to be putting together a school-based energy diet challenge starting soon. I bet the prizes will be great but better yet, sounds like your school is well on the way.
http://energydiet.canadiangeographic.ca/main/page/get-the-kids-involved-2011-09-15-10-09-05
In today's new technology - computers, video games, etc. - power is consumed by power supplies (the black cubes - sometimes called "vampires") the circuit and sensors needed to receive a remote signal.
In our household, everyone has their own TV and computer ... I don't think shutting off a power bar here or there would save that much $$$$$ - I think "multiples" of the same devices and BAD HABITS are costing our household. Leaving a room for any length of time --- shut off the lights, TV, etc. I think parents can deliver the conservation message, however, kids don't take it seriously because they don't see or pay the electrical bill.
(Oh No!!!! I'm starting to sound like my dad!!!)
Several years ago, we found 7-watt night lights at the dollar store that have an "ON/OFF switch". THESE SURE WORK GREAT - we turn them "on" before going to bed for the night when we actually want the small amount of light needed to illuminate our hallways/bathroom and turn them "off" in the morning. Sure beats having a higher-watt - bright light burning all night and .... no more random light.
Every little bit sure does help !!
Cute video, those girls are on the ball, keep up the good work. Rhonda
Timer power bars - Our local utility provided the household with a "Woods" timer power bar. Cdn. Tire carries the Woods Digital Timer controlled Power Centre #49690 UPC 0 62964 49690 9 -- with 8 grounded outlets on it but with only 4 timer controlled outlets - so it is dual purpose. It has 7 day digital timer with up to 7 on/off setting for each day.
Hope this helps!
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