On, 24-7

So that friend of mine, who got me hooked on the energy subject, went through his house to cut down on items that draw an electrical current, even when turned off. For example, any consumer-electronics device that supports a remote has to be “on” at some level for the remote to work. Interesting idea; I decided to take an inventory at my house. It wasn’t pretty …

· Stove (runs a clock)
· Microwave oven (ditto)
· Cordless phone in the kitchen
· Cell phone battery charger
· Answering machine
· Carbon monoxide detector
· TV (living room)
· VCR (living room)
· DVD player
· DVD recorder
· Stereo receiver
· CD player
· Vibrator/massager for a recliner
· Cordless phone (bedroom)
· Clock/radio
· TV (guest bedroom)
· VCR (guest bedroom)
· Clock/radio
· Clock in a bedroom
· Fan (remote controlled; go figure)
· Stereo (basement)
· Battery charger (basement)
· Baby monitor base
· Baby monitor speaker (kitchen)
· Baby monitor speaker (bedroom)
· Garage door opener
· Garage door opener nightlight
· Thermostat
· Automatic sprinkler controller
· Three motion detectors for outdoor lights

There are some others that I’m not sure of (like the refrigerator). There is also the porch light, which we keep on all night (required by the neighborhood covenant). Also, when the computer is on, which is during most of the day, there is the computer, monitor, power strip (has some led’s always lit), cable modem, two scanners, and a printer. Not sure whether those draw current all the time or not.

One obvious conclusion here is that we have way too much s--- in our house. I’m not sure what the cumulative current from all that is (I can probably estimate it from power bills), but it’s certainly more than it needs to be given how often we actually use those devices listed above. I’ll be discussing conservation later . . . .