Do you know how much electricity is being greedily sucked up by your electronic equipment even when turned off?  Do you know how to stop the vampire suck that happens whether you have your television turned on or not?  Would you expect one of the biggest purveyors of electronics to offer you energy saving tips?

Probably the answer to everyone of those questions is a resounding “No”.  Well, guess what, BestBuy is bucking to become your best friend by offering excellent tips for helping you save money and energy.

BestBuy has declared Oct. 30 National Vampire Awareness Day.  The official BestBuy term for the electricity that everything from your TV, to your microwave, sucks up even when in standby mode or turned off is Vampire Power.

Most people lose $1,000 a year from Vampire Power which translates into $4 billion a year for the entire United States.  This number is expected to grow by 20% by 2010.  That’s a lot of wasted electricity and money.

To combat this growing ghostly loss of energy, BestBuy is starting a nationwide campaign to get information out to everyone on the best ways to stop the leak of energy from electronics that seem to be turned off but are still hemorrhaging electricity.

Here are BestBuy’s tips for stopping Vampire Power:

1. Use a power strip:  Plug your chargers into a power strip and

when you're not using those chargers, turn the power strip off.

2. Get unplugged: All of your chargers (cell phone, MP3, laptop,

and even electric toothbrushes), continue to draw electricity

even when the device is not charging. Only 5 percent of the

power drawn by a cell phone charger is used to charge the phone

-- the other 95 percent is wasted when it is left plugged into

the wall.

3. Turn your computer off:  Computers in sleep mode can cost an

additional $70 per year. By completely shutting down your

computer and printer when not in use you will not only save

money, you will also help reduce the machine's CO2 emissions

83 percent, to just 63 kg a year. If you are unable to do so,

at least make sure the computer goes into a low-power sleep,

standby or hibernate mode. And watch out for those screen savers;

graphic intense screen savers can actually waste power.

4. Look for the Star: The typical U.S. household spends about

$1,300 on its home energy bills. ENERGY STAR qualified products

including heating and cooling equipment can reduce that energy

bill by up to 40 percent-- a potential savings of hundreds of

dollars each year.

Going Green doesn’t mean that you have to spend money for a hybrid.  Going Green is taking the simple steps outlined above to conserve energy and cut costs.

Related:

Entry was posted on Wednesday, October 29th, 2008 at 10:53 pm under Green Technology, Tips and advice.

Read more entries by Susan Wilson.
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