Florida Public Utilities Company

Identifying the Energy Vampires in Your Home

There are always new ways to make your home more efficient. Even the simple act of unplugging certain energy-sucking appliances can go a long way toward reducing waste and your energy bills. Read to learn more about the energy vampires in your home and how you can improve overall efficiency.

• Usual Suspects: Several popular appliances are well-known energy vampires. Computers and their accessories (printers, faxes, wireless internet) all draw power after being turned off. Entertainment appliances like televisions, and DVD players are also guilty of this energy waste. Even the cable and satellite boxes connected to your television use energy while you sleep. Appliances with clocks are also typically energy vampires; the extra standby power is used to keep the clock ticking on time.
   
• Vampire Clues: This list of energy vampires is by no means exhaustive. Thankfully, there are a few tips that you can use to spot an energy vampire. For example, electronics with external power sources and chargeable batteries are almost always energy vampires. Small electronics with continuous displays are also guilty of wasting energy after hours.
   
• Potential Costs: An important part of identifying energy vampires of your home is also identifying their costs. ScienceDaily.com reports that a single vampire television set can inflate your annual energy costs by $10. Unfortunately, these extra charges add up fast. Homes with typical appliances like a plasma TV, computer, and clock stand to lose over $50 to energy vampirism each year.
   
• Energy Solutions: One of the easiest ways to solve this problem is to use a power strip. Surge-protected strips can handle multiple plugs and be turned off with the flip of a switch. This simple set-up makes it easy to shut down an entire room’s worth of appliances at once. Make sure to purchase a surge protector with enough outlets for every energy vampire appliance in a room.

The experts at Florida Public Utilities Company can teach you everything you need to know about energy vampires. Contact us at (561) 832-0872 to find out which appliances are wasting power in your home.

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