When times get tough, people start looking for ways to cut costs, and one of the easiest to identify, if not cut, is the electricity utility bill. The problem for many people in doing so though, is the lack of knowledge in how to go about finding which types of electrical usage can be reduced. Fortunately, some companies are out there doing things to help. A new power cord for identifying vampire electronics is a prime example; it was highlighted recently in the news journal UPI. This new power cord has lighted displays that show energy usage in real time as it occurs. The more power being pulled through the cord, the brighter the lights glow, alerting users to such power drains as phone recharging.
Vampire electronics, for those that don’t know, are devices that use a little electricity even when they are turned off. Prime examples are television sets, cable boxes, stereo systems, cordless landline phones and ac/dc converters such as those used on laptops. Even though the only use a little at a time, it can add up over time, especially if there a lot of such devices in the home.
In reality, tracking down and modifying power usage in the home takes a little effort because virtually every device and appliance in the home pulls in electrify, though some are a little stingier than others. One example is the common refrigerator. As a recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald points out, an old fridge could be costing people up to $300 more per year than a new one with a PowerStar rating.
The trick is in finding out though, and that’s where a device such as the Kill-A-Watt comes in, as Geoexchange points out. What these little gadgets do is actually measure how much power is being used by a device.
The way it works is, the person doing the testing unplugs a device from the wall, and instead plugs it into the Kill-A-Watt, then the Kill-A-Watt is plugged into the wall. In this setup, the electricity used by the device has to pass through the Kill-A-Watt first, which measures it.
The Kill-A-Watt can give a current-wattage-used reading, or it can keep track of how much a device uses over a period of time, such as a month. All the user has to do is read the display and then multiply the amount used by the cost of one watt as shown on their electric bill to see how much that device has cost them.
The idea is to test every device in the home, particularly those that seem suspect such as old dishwashers and other big appliances. The Kill-A-Watt can also be used with multiple devices at once too; just plug them all into a power strip, which then plugs into the Kill-A-Watt. This is an excellent way to find out how much power is being used by those sneaky vampire electronics devices.
Checking the home for electrical usage is a good way to find out where electricity is being wasted, so that those devices or appliances can be turned off or replaced with more energy efficient models.