This article is from a newsletter called Wings which can be found at www.owlsdaughter.com. I thought it was important information to remind ourselves.

Green Living

Energy Vampires!

Kill your energy vampires! (No, although sometimes it istempting, I'm not talking about that certain someone we all know, who feeds off of stirring up trouble around the office or neighborhood).

I mean the energy vampires that can be spotted by walking through your home at night with the lights off.

If you see the “standby” lights and digital displays on various appliances and electronic devices, these devices are using power and acting like vampires. They are silently sucking away energy even when they are turned “off.”

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, across all U.S. households, energy vampires account for an estimated 65 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity each year.

They tell us, "This extra electricity costs consumers more than $5.8 billion annually and sends more than 87 billion pounds of heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year."

They explain, "Some of the biggest energy wasters in most homes are the adapters that come with rechargeable battery-powered cordless phones, cell phones, digital cameras and music players, power tools, and other electronic devices.

"Most draw power whenever they’re plugged into an outlet, regardless of whether the device battery is fully charged—or even connected."

Other vampires include appliances or electronic equipment with standby capability (such as televisions and computer monitors), stuff that comes with a remote control, and/or a digital clock display (such as microwaves, DVD players, and stereo systems).

You will probably see the most twinkling lights around your desk where your computer equipment lives. I know some stuff needs to be left on, especially if you don't want to jumble up internal clocks and so forth.

But it is super easy to take a couple of minutes to sort out which cables for computer peripherals, like printers and scanners, can be unplugged without having to re-set the time or causing problems with other equipment.

Put them all on one power strip that you can click off at night!

Do you really have to keep your charger plugged in when nothing is charging? Unplug it except when you are actually using it!

And be sure to shop for Energy Star-labeled models that use the least standby power. If the label doesn't tell you how much energy is used for regular and stand-by power, you can check the onlineEnergy Star database.

Remember -

Every little bit makes a world of difference.