Phantom Power??

If you were in my house right now, you might think I've made a New Year's Resolution to go "Green".... but it's actually just a coincidence. Dirk and I are both very clear on our political and moral standings when it comes to "Global Warming" (not really swayed by the "evidence" shown so far) and just being good stewards of this earth that God has created for us.

I'm not as concerned about the polar bears not having ice to live on at the North Pole as I am about my montly electric bill.

I'm definately NOT buying "carbon credits" to make up for all the extra resources I use... We send our tithe and offerings to our church and other similar ministries. If God wants us to start supporting "save the earth" funds... he probably should have not told us in Revelations that he was going to destry the earth anyway.

Even so, Dirk and I have taken some time to educate ourselves with various resources of information about basic saving ideas for the home. When it comes down to it, most of the way my parents and grandparents live(d) is the way to go.... just common sense... not so much dollars and cents spent on conveinences.

Phantom power is when an electical appliance uses electricity, even when we THINK we've turned the thing off. The first info we saw on this said you might be able to save as much as 40% of your electicity usage and bill each year if you stop phantom power usage. Here is the catch... somethings I don't want to turn off, becuase I do want it working when I'm not awake, or at home (ie: my phone answering machine and the DVR).

Some of the biggers "users" of Phantom power are microwaves, a TV that have a remote control, VCRs, computers, cable boxes and cordless phones. (here we go again... did my grandma have any one of these items?? NOPE!) The reason is that most of these have a built in function that causes them to draw small/large amounts of electricty to be ready to use when I get the "whim" to say.... "ON."

From what we've read, basic appliances like a toaster for instance, are really off when you are not using them -- they don't have a built in clock to give the time, or a built in computer that knows when to warm itself up -- to be ready for you when you wake up in the AM.

The info I saw on one website showed that the average family uses a microwave less than an hour a day -- which uses less than a $1 a month of power. But the built in clock uses about $.25 per day to keep on... is that just CRAZY! Not like a quarter a day is a big deal... but when you add it up the average family uses as much as $500 per year keeping appliances "ready"... but not really using them for any functional purpose. I'm not talking about your fridge keeping your milk cold... I'm talking about cell phone chargers... plugged in and charging a phone that is already fully charged... or a TV and cable box "ready"... when no one uses it for 20 hours.

So I guess I'm off to Walmart to buy some power strips. You know, those things we all had to get back in the 80's so we could plug 8 things on the same outlet. Turns out they have an even better funtion. When you turn them off, there is no power going through. I've already unplugged the extra radio (with a useless clock) and a few other things. The biggest things we are going to change is having our TV's, VCR, DVD and stereo on a powerstrip. I won't be putting the cable box on though... otherwise I won't get my shows taped while I'm busy or gone. I figure I can afford the $25 per year to keep it plugged in all the time since I'm going to save so much more shutting off the rest of the items.