Even when left idle, appliances use power
| • | Power consumption increasing on O'ahu |
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| • | Electricity cost calculator |
| • | Chart: What electricity costs in Hawai'i |
| • | Chart: Where the power goes |
By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Science Writer
That sucking sound you hear at night is electricity pulling dollars out of your wallet — even when you're asleep and every appliance and light in your home is turned off.
For more information, you can call your electric company or a private consultant for tips, or even do an in-home energy audit. Building materials stores are often good sources of information about energy efficiency. Home Depot has tips at its site, www.homedepot.com/energy. Hawaiian Electric customers on all islands except Kaua'i can visit the Web site, www.heco.com, for tips on saving energy and even to do an online check on home energy to help analyze your energy costs. Kaua'i residents can get energy-saving tips at www.kiuc.coop. To view how Hawai'i compares with other states in statewide average energy costs, visit the Web site for the U.S. Energy Information Administration at www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/
It's called phantom load — or sometimes vampire load, standby loss or leaking load — and it can make up a significant portion of your monthly power bill.
Resources on energy efficiency
electricity/epm/table5_6_a.html.
Those little red and green lights that keep burning through the night on various appliances all represent electrical load. Those little black cubes that plug into the wall to power all kinds of devices, they suck power even when the device is turned off. Anything that is controlled by a remote control module is using electricity while it waits for you to push the button.
There's a lot of equipment in the average home that draws power even when everything's off. Maui Electric, in its October 2003 newsletter to customers, said that control boxes for cable television and satellite TV systems use almost as much power on standby as when active.
"It may not seem like a lot," said Hawaiian Electric energy specialist Derrick Sonoda. "But these (gadgets) are constantly taking power from you."
The microwave with a clock on it, a couple of instant-on television sets, a DVD player, a computer, a printer, a stereo, a washing-machine timer and the dryer timer — they constantly draw small to moderate amounts of power. So do the "little black box" battery chargers and inverters that you leave plugged in when there's nothing hooked up — ones for the cell phone, the laptop, the portable vacuum and so on.
"I have a cordless drill, and I left the charger plugged into the wall. I was surprised when I came back three days later to find it was warm," meaning it was drawing power even without the drill attached, said Ray Mierta, energy services specialist at Kaua'i Island Utility Co-op.
The Hawai'i Public Utilities Commission doesn't track phantom-load data, but the California Energy Commission said that an average home can easily have 50 watts of phantom load.
"The cost of electricity leakage adds up quickly," says the California Energy Commission on its Web site, www.consumerenergycenter.org.
Hawaiian Electric recommends plugging many of these items into power strips, which you can readily switch off.
Kaua'i businessman Charlie Cowden, who sells surf gear and installs solar power systems, said he has a wall switch installed at each of his power sockets, so he can turn them off without having to unplug appliances.
"Phantom loads aren't as important as they used to be (when appliances were less efficient), but if you're on solar, the phantom load can burn up all the electricity from $1,000 worth of solar panels," Cowden said.
Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808)245-3074.
