A phantom load isn’t the name of the next blockbuster thriller, but the concept is frightening. Phantom load refers to the small, but constant, power use of most modern household electronic equipment. Appliances use energy even when they appear "off" just so they can be ready for action. For example, your television consumes between 5 and 15 watts of electricity as it sits idle and waits for you to hit the “on” button on your remote. Other examples include CD and DVD players, microwaves, alarm clocks, computers, printers and anything with a red “standby” light. Also any appliance or charging device that has a cube shaped transformer on the end of its cord is creating a phantom load. These devices have hidden energy costs and environmental implications.

Nationally, phantom loads make up about six percent of our energy consumption. This isn’t surprising when you consider that the average U.S. home has more than 25 individual phantom load culprits, otherwise known as vampires (seriously.) This translates into billions of dollars spent and countless pounds of carbon emitted into our air. As the demand for electrical gadgets continues to rise, energy consumption from phantom loads is only going to increase.

So what to do? Dealing with phantom loads is what I call one of the easy ones. Simply unplug devices not in use or invest in a power strip equipped with a power switch. Just plug in multiple electrical devices into the power strip, and with one flick of a switch you can prevent all devices from getting any power. For those appliances that store the settings or are inconvenient to switch off frequently, leave them plugged directly to the wall or to a different outlet.

How much will you save? Picture a home entertainment center with TV, VCR, DVD, stereo, cable or satellite tuner box and games all plugged into a power strip. If the equipment is actually being used only four hours a day, and you turn everything off with a single switched power strip the rest of the time, you can eliminate a phantom load of 50 watts or more for 20 hours a day. That adds up to a savings of about $45 per year and an estimated annual savings of 500 lbs. of CO2!

Let’s get rid of those phantom loads and save the scary stuff for the movies.