vampires

Recently a friend and I were talking about alarm clocks. She says she keeps hers on the other side of the room, so when it sounds she has to get up to turn it off. And once she’s up, she just stays up. That made me think about the alarm clock in my bedroom. I can’t remember the last time it sounded off. I’ve become so used to the one on my cell phone, the one by the bed is simply redundant.

 

But it also brought to mind how much electricity we use unnecessarily. They’re called vampires, power-sippers, electricity drains, or several other less affectionate terms. What it amounts to is that electronic devices with a light to show they’re “on” are using electricity. If you want to use less, unplug.

Why do I care? Because I want to reduce our footprint. We don’t plug in the coffee maker until it’s time to make coffee. And we don’t depend on a timer to make the coffee for us before we get up in the morning. Frankly, I don’t care if the clock on the Mr. Coffee shows the correct time or not, after all, there’s the digital one on the microwave and the digital one on the stove, and neither of those can be unplugged. All they’re really good for is making me aware of how many devices in the house must be reset after one of our all-too-often spring and fall power outages.

There are clocks in both spare bedrooms; no one (besides myself) ever goes in there. So why have a clock running if no one ever looks at it? If we have guests, it’s a small matter to plug in and reset. So, they stay unplugged until needed.

Now, the downside of this is that if the device has to be re-programmed each time it loses power (such as with some older model televisions) you might not find it worth the small amount of savings you'll get from going "unplugged." But if you're into saving the planet, it's worth thinking about.