Your Home Is Leaking Energy

Silently, while you sleep, a dark menace is draining your bank account of hundreds of dollars per year. It drains while you are at work, while you are on vacation, and while you are out with your friends. Quietly it burns through money without you even knowing it. What is this dark menace? The Energy Phantom!



Actually, its your VCR, DVD player, stereo, TV, computer, cell phone charger, iPod speakers, etc. Basically any device that sits plugged-in to the wall outlet is draining energy from your home, even when it isn't being used. Some estimate that this waste of electricity accounts for 5-10% of your monthly utility bill. That may not seem like much, but when you account for all the energy phantoms nationwide, it costs the U.S. $5.8 billion annually and contribute more than 87 billion pounds of carbon dioxide into the air.


There are many many things you can do to lower your utility bill and put a stop to these little jerks. Obviously you can unplug things that you aren't using and re-plug them when you need them. There are more convenient ways to address the problem though.


For instance, you can plug all of the previously mentioned devices into a power strip (or surge protector) and flip the switch before going to bed or leaving the house. There are more advanced power strips, called Smart Strips, that have different outlets for different purposes. Your equipment that needs to be "on" at all times, like a cordless home phone, stays on. Meanwhile, equipment that can be turned off, like a DVD player, is plugged into the outlets controlled by the "off switch."


If hitting a switch is too laborious for you, why not plug your surge protector into the outlet controlled by the light switch on your wall? Don't have such a light switch? How about a remote controlled power outlet? Attach the button to your keys and hit it when you leave the house and hit it again when you come inside. Of course, you could always use the classic wireless on/off device, The Clapper!


What I'm trying to tell you is that a simple, inexpensive device will not only save you money every month on your utility bill, but it will reduce your demand for electricity, and therfore reduce your contribution to global warming. Stop the Phantom now!