Energy Vampires: How To Save Big Dollars On Your Energy Bill 

Does Your Unit Have Energy Vampires That Are Costing You Money?  The answer is yes, 99.99% of the time.

This is not another article that tells you to take shorter showers or turn down your thermostat.  You already know those energy tips.  Instead, this is an article that talks about a secret device built into most of your appliances, cell phones and computer equipment that is costing you hundreds of dollars a year on your energy bill that you are probably not aware of.  Last year, President Bush announced, as part of an energy conservation package, that the federal government would take the lead in a major conservation effort to bring American homes, government and industry to a new energy saving standard for energy “vampire devices.” Why is that such a big deal?  The answer is very very simple.  It is estimated that it takes about 26 power plants just to power Energy Vampire devices every year.  Thus, a lot of energy is being wasted each and every day, needlessly.

So, just what is an Energy Vampire?  Vampires are standby power devices that are built into many household appliances.  They are the reason many of our residents receiver monthly electric bills even though they have left for the season.  What you don’t know is that these devices are using energy while you are not there.

Vampires are designed to draw excessive energy when the device is supposedly “turned off.”  That way, the appliance comes back on almost instantly when you hit the power button.  Vampires can be found in almost every household appliance including televisions, telephones, fax machines, washers, and dryers, microwave ovens, stoves, radios and so much more. Vampires make sure that the appliance is instantly functioning when you want to use it; they are also used to maintain memory functions in these devices. Some Vampires, such as cell phone chargers, draw energy when plugged in even if they are not connected to the device they normally charge. Vampires typically consume anywhere from 4-7 watts per hour.  When you think about all the appliances in every household, that is a lot of wasted energy, which it why it takes those 26 power plants to power these energy vampires every year.

In addition to all those power plants, it is costing Americans millions of dollars every year on this wasted energy.  Energy vampires eat up about 5 percent of all the electricity used in the United States, equal to an extra electrical bill of more than $3 billion a year.  So, what can you do?  First, you can conserve by shopping for the most energy efficient appliances in the market place.  If you have older appliances, which most of us do, or if you have an older RV with older appliances, these old appliances are not very energy efficient and are more likely to have a standby device built into them.  For example, if your current refrigerator was made before 1993, it uses twice as much energy as an ENERGY STAR® model.   If replacing your dishwasher, an ENERGY STAR® model can save more than $25 a year in energy costs.  Repair any leaky faucets promptly.  Hot water leaking at a rate of one drip per second can waste up to 1,661 gallons of water in one year—and wastes up to $35 in electricity or natural gas. For certain devices such as airconditioning units, dryers, hot water heaters or refrigerators, check with your state to see if any rebates are available. 

So,  before spending a few hundred dollars to fix that old appliance, you might want to replace it to save money in the long run on lower energy bills.  If you chose not to replace old appliances and instead bring them to your unit at our resort, just bear in mind that your energy bill will be higher than your bill back home.  That is why some of you might think energy costs more in Texas than back home.

Second, with the devices you already have, you can simply unplug them.  Many of our customers are surprised to learn upon returning for the season that they  have been generating electric bills while they are gone.  That is because they have many of these appliances in their units that are silently using energy because of these built in standby power devices.  To avoid this cost, you should unplug your entire unit before leaving.  It is not enough to unplug some of your devices because most likely, you will forget several of them.  Refrigerators are a big one, as our clock radios, stoves with clocks, microwaves, and many more.

Third, if you really want to find out how much “juice” each device uses even when turned off, you can purchase a device called “Kill-a-Watt Monitor” on the internet for about $35, plus shipping to be sure that your appliances are working efficiently.  Good Magazine and others also have charts that details how much energy your Energy Vampires use and how much it costs you to keep them plugged in. These charts differentiate between devices that are in "active" (ready to leap to life) and "passive" (just plugged in) standby modes, and some items are real shockers. A plasma TV, for instance, can cost about $160 per year just to keep plugged in. The takeaway for me, at least, is thinking about putting some devices on power strips and turning them off if I know I won't be using them for a day or more.