Reducing phantom power used and reducing power usage in your home

[razz]

I thought that some may find it interesting to read what phantom power usage might be in one's house using this current listing.

http://standby.lbl.gov/summary-table.html

This article which provides the link above also talks about TED which is a new term for me. Anyone else heard of it?

http://www.energybulletin.net/stories/2012-03-28/phantoms-ive-killed

Their energy consumption is really amazingly low.

[Zoebird]

here, it's common that each outlet has it's own switch -- and we are meticulous about turning most switches off most of the time. power is expensive, so that's a big deal here.

our most expensive things are the hot water heater and the fridge, followed by the range. Those are the only things that stay on all the time. I have no way to turn off the hot water heater, and if i turn off the fridge, there goes the point of having a fridge. but it's a relatively new fridge, so it's pretty efficient. And, the only thing "on" on the range is the clock. I tried turning it off in the past, but it messes with the range if you do that (some computerized programing nonsense that i don't have directions to fix if i have to reprogram it every time i turn it on!).

such a bummer.

[Float On]

I think I have several phantoms waundering around in my house using electricity when we're not home.
I get a "for your info" statement every month from my electric co-op and it continually tells me we use 40% more power than most of our neighbors. I'm not sure how....unless it's phantoms!

[loosechickens]

phantoms couldn't probably account for 40%, but they could, especially if you have several "instant on" color TVs, satellite television, and/or leave a desktop computer on 24/7, amount to 10% or more.

as we live on solar photovoltaic/battery system for most of our electrical needs, all of them when shore power is not available for ref/freezer and/or a/c if needed, we pay VERY careful attention to phantom loads, and have ours down pretty much to zero, with everything that draws even a tiny amount of power when turned off, on surge strips.

You just get used to having to wait about 30 seconds or so for your TV to "find itself", and not being able to use the clock on your microwave, hahahaha.....

[Float On]

phantoms couldn't probably account for 40%, but they could, ....

I was refering to ghostly phantoms....I think they hang out and have parties while we're gone because I know for a fact we have far fewer electric gadgets than our neighbors. Now if it included our studio that would be expected because our glass tanks are electric and we keep them around 2200 degrees, the kilns are electric as well. Normal electric bill for the studio is aorund $700 a month. That statement says we use 400% more than our neighbors.

[Spartana]

I was refering to ghostly phantoms....I think they hang out and have parties while we're gone because I know for a fact we have far fewer electric gadgets than our neighbors. Now if it included our studio that would be expected because our glass tanks are electric and we keep them around 2200 degrees, the kilns are electric as well. Normal electric bill for the studio is aorund $700 a month. That statement says we use 400% more than our neighbors.

YIKES!! But I can see why you'd have a high energy usage. Maybe a more reality based figure for comparision would be determining how many killowatts you use in the house vs. the studio (if you can figure that out someway). When I had my last place I pretty much unplugged most things and was gone all dat, everyday, from sun up to sun down so my energry usage was very low - something like 50 kw's/month - and my average electric bill was between $10 - $15/month. I turn the fridge as low as I can, use low wattage bulbs elsewhere, watch a 32 inch flat screen TV, have an outdoor light on all night (approx. 40 watt), but no computer use at home and am single so only one light on in room I am in - or no light if watching TV (have little 4 watt nightlights in the bathrooms and kitchen all night long). My heat, cooking, and hot water were all natural gas though so cheap to use.

[bae]

I've found this sort of device really handy for tracking down power use around the home:

http://the-gadgeteer.com/assets/p3-killawat-ez-1.jpg

[Rogar]

Indeed. I did a fairly full audit of my house using the kill-a-watt. It was not only useful for phantom loads but also how much my other appliances use. I passed it along to several friends and it finally drifted off somewhere, so got a lot of use from it. I've heard some libraries have them for loan.

[militaryman]

"phantom electricity usage"

Always felt skeptical about this as when I monitor my electric bill over the course of a year I see that when I am in non A/C and Heat use months my electricity usage drops from 2000-3000 Kwh's down to an average 600 Kwh's And of that amount I think it is pretty safe to say that operation of the Refrigerator, Elec. Dryer, Dishwasher, Washing Machine, Microwave, 2 TV's, 3 Computers, and Freezer account for AT LEAST 400 of that 600 --- (using this link for those figures on appliance use ) http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/howmuch.html
Then there are legitimate use of cellphone chargers, coffee maker, Iron, Hairdryer, curling iron, cable DVR, XBOX, etc etc that lower the possible "phantom elec. usage" to an extremely low amount that seems quite insignificant and acceptable. This does not even mention lighting costs ---

Sometimes I think the industry is coming up with these energy conservation "gimmicks and gadgets" so they can have another product to sell that has little basis in significant savings.

What am I missing ?