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If not planned for or dealt with, ghost loads can make a mockery of even the most carefully executed system planning efforts, so don't let these wasteful little nasties ruin your day.
I have to admit, when I saw the phrase "ghost loads can make a mockery of..." I was not thinking about electricity! And I don't even accept the existence of ghosts!
The only thing plugged in at my house at all times is my fridge & sump pump. Everything else is unplugged when I leave the house in the morning. My first month electricity bill was $44
This is a funny article. Unplug your microwave and reset the clock every time us plug it back in. You will save almost 2 cents per year and it will only cost you 36 hours of your time.
Most, perhaps all of the listed items do not use any appreciable amount of electricity. GFCI's? Why because some of them have an led light indicating when they are set? Turn those off and you will not even save a penny a year. Do the authors fo this article realize how little power a radio or a quartz or digital clock use? Some things that have a standby mode and have to warm up when turned on (like printers) are actually more efficient to leave on.
This is as silly as the whole CFL thing. If we all changed to CFL's we could save in a year the amount of energy china wastes in one second. Hooray!. If everyone in the country unplugs everything when they leave the house, we might add another half a second in reduced electrical consumption.
I am all for conservation, but lets focus on meaningful measures. Compressors, motors and things that heat up use significant amounts of electricity. Everything else is peanuts. Want to significantly reduce electrical usage? Do away with haird dryers, curling irons and toasters. Insulate your electric water heater. However the single biggest waste of electricity comes from air conditioning when a fan is sufficient. Use a fan instead of Ac for one 24 hour day and you will beat turning off and unplugging all the radios, clocks, IPods, ect.
One thing that always seemed massively wasteful to me is all of the street lights on empty streets and subdivisions that burn all night. I wonder how much power is wasted for that? Maybe it is inconsequential since they are mercury vapor or sodium and use less power. What about the lights that are required to be left on all night in every empty office in the country?
This is a funny article. Unplug your microwave and reset the clock every time us plug it back in. You will save almost 2 cents per year and it will only cost you 36 hours of your time.
Most, perhaps all of the listed items do not use any appreciable amount of electricity. GFCI's? Why because some of them have an led light indicating when they are set? Turn those off and you will not even save a penny a year. Do the authors fo this article realize how little power a radio or a quartz or digital clock use? Some things that have a standby mode and have to warm up when turned on (like printers) are actually more efficient to leave on.
This is as silly as the whole CFL thing. If we all changed to CFL's we could save in a year the amount of energy china wastes in one second. Hooray!. If everyone in the country unplugs everything when they leave the house, we might add another half a second in reduced electrical consumption.
I am all for conservation, but lets focus on meaningful measures. Compressors, motors and things that heat up use significant amounts of electricity. Everything else is peanuts. Want to significantly reduce electrical usage? Do away with haird dryers, curling irons and toasters. Insulate your electric water heater. However the single biggest waste of electricity comes from air conditioning when a fan is sufficient. Use a fan instead of Ac for one 24 hour day and you will beat turning off and unplugging all the radios, clocks, IPods, ect.
One thing that always seemed massively wasteful to me is all of the street lights on empty streets and subdivisions that burn all night. I wonder how much power is wasted for that? Maybe it is inconsequential since they are mercury vapor or sodium and use less power. What about the lights that are required to be left on all night in every empty office in the country?
I think our goal should be to trim our own electric bills. I always thought office buildings were kept lit for the night-cleaning crews.
I think our goal should be to trim our own electric bills. I always thought office buildings were kept lit for the night-cleaning crews.
No. Cleaning crews cna turn lights on and off as needed. However all offices have about 10% or slightly more of the lights that will not turn off and cannot be turned off. It is for insurance purposes.
All too often we engage in hugely wasteful practices in order to engage our safety obsession. This is a classic example. There must be million of offices. All of them have from one to several dozen lights that burn 24/7, even when the office is completely empty and locked. They could fix a lot of raods with that money and put a lot of people to work.
I only plug in the microwave when it will be used - it certainly isn't needed as a clock (not sure why one poster has to reset the clock). Same w/the toaster oven, anything that heats (hair dryer, curling iron, whatever) you shouldn't leave plugged in even if "off" for safety reasons. I do have the computer "kind of" on though - I shut it down at night but I don't turn off the power strip unless going away for a few days, so I know the modem is always on. Same w/the TV - haven't tried turning that off but I assume it would be like when the power goes out and it takes awhile to "find a signal" etc.? (DTV)
Answering machine???? Turn off the answering machine while you are away?????? I must be missing something here.
I don't think anyone suggested turning off the answering machine. (most have been replaced by voicemail) I think burglar alarms should be left on as well.
I don't think anyone suggested turning off the answering machine. (most have been replaced by voicemail) I think burglar alarms should be left on as well.
I clicked on your link, and one of the things listed was Cordless phones and answering machines. Next to last thing listed.
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at the tone....
