Phantom Load

Home entertainment systems are the new energy hogs.  Try this at home.  Turn on your cable box, the HDTV, the surround-sound system, the TiVo, the DVD player and the Xbox or PlayStation.  Your electric meter has shifted into high gear.

Traditional appliances have become much more energy efficient in recent years.  However, a set-top cable box, for example, consumes 30 watts of power.  Its annual energy consumption is enough to operate a refrigerator for 6 months.  Plasma TVs use about three times as much energy as regular televisions.  And, many of these new electronics continue to use energy even after they’ve been turned off.  It’s what we call phantom load. 

In the U.S., approximately 43 billion kilowatt hours of electricity is wasted as the result of this continuous, low-level energy use.  For the average homeowner, that translates to about $28 per year.  Any device that can be turned on with a remote control is consuming electricity while it waits in standby mode for a signal from the remote.  The clock on a microwave or oven also adds to phantom load.

Cable boxes and digital video recorders (DVRs) are the worst offenders.  DVRs often sit with their hard drives spinning even when they are turned off.  And, don’t forget about your phone or laptop charger.  Those bulky power packs use energy whether an electronic is plugged in or not.

Finding Phantom Loads

Turn off all lights at night and look for any LEDs or other glows in the house.

Working Around these “Energy Vampires”

• Unplug the appliance or use a power strip and switch it off when not in use.
• Unplug cell phone chargers or laptop batteries when not in use.
• When buying new appliances, look for the Energy Star label.
• If possible, choose an appliance without a built-in clock or timer.  It can use enough energy to run a compact fluorescent light bulb continuously for 10 hours.
• Turn off your computer and monitor when not in use.