Some US Homes Spend Nearly $600 Annually in Vampire Power Costs
Home energy monitoring company Sense tapped into Amazon Prime Day awareness to warn consumers how vampire power can lead to expensive utility bills. CE and other “always on” devices make up 23 percent of power consumption in the average U.S.…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
household, costing residents an average $335 per year, it said, and about 10 percent pay more than $1,000 annually "to keep their gadgets on all the time.” Entertainment centers and audio systems are some of the biggest energy hogs, using $25-$60 a year in "vampire power," even when off, it said. Plasma TVs and amplifiers are the biggest culprits -- consuming five to 10 times as much -- or up to $350 a year, while a DVR can cost $30 a year in utility costs in standby mode. “An Alexa here, a camera there, a couple laptops charging adds up," said Sense, saying homes with 15 or more devices can spend $585 annually on vampire power. For Prime Day, the company recommended shopping for Energy Star-certified products and putting entertainment systems on smart strips that can be scheduled to power down when not in use.