Electrical Appliances: Strip It!

Consumer electronics account for about 15% of your electricity bill. Every year TVs and VCRs in the United States waste $1 billion in phantom electricity losses, which are also called vampire losses because the devices suck electricity when they’re asleep!

Any electronic device that has a remote is still using electricity even when it’s off. They use energy to keep their remote sensors on, so when you click your remote the device turns on. But you are paying for that electricity when the device is on standby. Plug anything that can be powered by a remote control or that has a power cube transformer (little black box) into a power strip, and turn it off, and/or unplug, when not in use. (Power cubes are 60-80 percent inefficient.)