Take a second and think about everything you have plugged in at home right now. A few obvious things may immediately come to mind: televisions, phone chargers, printer, refrigerator. Now, tally up the sheer amount of electronics you have: game consoles, coffee maker, blender, toaster, microwave, tablet charger, smart watch charger, toothbrush charger, smart speaker, and well, you get the point. The list is endless.
Today, the average American household owns about 50 consumer electronic devices. All this energy use can add up fast, but not always in the way we imagine. Many utility customers don’t realize when their plugged-in devices are turned off, they’re still consuming energy – becoming energy vampires. Spooky, right?
The Haunting Reality of Energy Vampires
We live in an on-demand society. It’s safe to assume that most consumers prefer to have their electronic devices plugged in and ready to use whenever they wish. It’s not that utility customers want to waste energy, they are simply unaware of the vampire loads their electronics generate when plugged in. For utilities trying to cut costs and save energy, one of the easiest ways to do so is to educate consumers about the energy vampires, also known as phantom loads, that are in their homes and places of business.
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) reports that energy vampires can be responsible for up to 20 percent of a consumer’s monthly utility bill. With a statistic that significant, it would seem shaving down energy costs should be a great incentive to get customers to take action on reducing vampire loads, right? Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. Even with the motivation to save money, the chances of a customer adopting an inconvenient routine of finding and unplugging each of their energy-sucking devices every day is slim to none. Utilities can try as they might to get the word out about energy vampires, but little action will happen if there’s any question of convenience. There is, however, an easier way to solve this problem: energy-saving advanced power strips.
The Advanced Method for Slaying Vampire Loads
Advanced power strips, or APSs, decrease the vampire load for devices. There’s a wide variety of APSs that work using motion sensors, master controls, masterless controls, remote control or timers to help customers cut out phantom loads without much effort at all. Customers and business owners can choose the right APS that best suits their lifestyle and easily install their new devices to start saving up to $200 in annual energy costs – with no inconvenient switch in their energy consumption habits.
Utilities Can Provide Advanced Power Strips Directly to Consumers
We know education, positive encouragement and demonstrating savings sometimes still aren’t enough for customers and business owners to adopt energy-efficient behavior. Here’s the good news: utilities can take the hassle out of eliminating energy vampires by providing their customers with APSs through their online stores or directly to customers’ doors in custom conservation kits. These measures, along with an educational marketing campaign, is the sure-fire way to put a stake in vampire loads once and for all.
Discover AM Conservation Group’s wide variety of APSs that you can start offering to your customers or members today!