Blue Dog’s Blog

The USDOE claims that 75% of the average home’s electric bill comes from phantom load. I decided to see if I fell into the average home statistics and have discovered a lot of appliances that have phantom load that I never thought about. Some I can’t do anything about (like the refrigerator) but other I can. Here’s the list that I came up with for my house. Your house may be similar. Last month, I was able to decrease my electric bill by 18% from the previous year by changing things for only the last 2.5 weeks. It will be interesting to see how much lower I am able to get it each month as I discover more places of phantom load and other ways to conserve energy.I have many appliances set up in two different ways now. Hard to reach outlets are equipped with a power strip that the appliances are plugged into. I try my best to use power strips that don’t have phantom load. Then I turn it off when the appliance isn’t in use. For those outlets that are easy to reach, I simply unplug everything from the wall. Sometimes I’ll combine the two so I’ll only need to unplug the power strip. Not sure which appliances to check in your house? There are a couple of questions that you can ask yourself: does a light stay on and does it retain memory. For example, your VCR and TV both have instant ons. They remember your local channels. Before you say that you don’t want to reprogram your TV every time or push in the channels, think about how you use it. For example, if you have a satellite dish, how hard is it to press 3 or 4 and have all of your channels at your fingertips? So once you think about it, you may find that it’s not that big of a deal. Just think of all the money you’ll save in the process.

Phantom Load

Appliances in my house that have phantom load:

• VCR
• DVR
• DVD player
• TV
• Xbox
• Air filters
• Security system
• Light wall plates (mine has lights on it to indicate dimming level)
• Microwave
• Stove
• Refrigerator
• Bread machine
• Rice cooker
• Washing machine
• Dryer
• Computers
• Printers
• Treadmill
• Chargers — cell phone, tooth brush, iPod, etc.
• Garage door opener
• Doorbell

In addition to these, be sure to check your toaster, toaster oven, coffee machine, hair dryer.

Other Ideas

Here are some other easy ways that you can lower your bills without much cost:

• Unplug appliances you are not using from the wall. You can put them on a power strip but keep in mind that some of them also have phantom load.
• Lower your thermostat in the winter and raise it in the summer! For every 1 degree you lower your thermostat in the fall/winter or raise it in the spring/summer, you’ll save 2% of your energy costs. In addition, consider lowering your heat 5-10 degrees while you sleep.
• Wash & rinse clothes in cold water. 85-90% of energy use in washing clothes is spent on heating the water and 10-15% is used to run the washing machine.
• Air dry your clothes. Not only does it save energy (5-10% of the average electric bill is from the clothes dryer) but your clothes will last longer. I use Mrs. Pegg’s Handy Line in the house and am very happy with it.
• Don’t run the dishwasher’s dry cycle. Instead, open the door and let the dishes air dry.
• Turn down the water temperature for your dishwasher to 120ºF if you have a separate heating tank otherwise turn down your water heater to 120ºF. The average home runs it at 150ºF.
• Run only full loads in the dishwasher and the washing machine.
• Insulate your attic, walls and crawl space. 10-50% of a home’s energy loss is through improper insulation.
• Plug up holes and put draft dodgers at doors; this can save up to 10% of energy costs.
• Change your shower head to low flow. The new ones don’t trickle! They have great pressure unlike their predecessors. The less water that flows through, the more you save on both water and heating it.
• Don’t put warm food in the fridge. Allow it to cool down first. It takes more energy to keep the fridge at a constant temperature when you put hot food in than if you were to put in room temperature food. Also, don’t overfill the fridge and block airflow. Remember to clean the grill and grate every three months and set the temperature for only as cold as you need and don’t go below.
• Use compact fluorescent light bulbs. Dimmable and 3-way CF bulbs are available so no excuses! 11% of the average electric bill comes from lighting.