Phantom Power Drain Is a Real Monster

Electricity is impossible to see, so it’s difficult to figure out how much is being used when you turn on lights or play video games. In fact, you even waste a little electricity when that stuff is off.

Many household appliances, electronics, and even some light fixtures operate in a standby mode when they are off. In this mode, appliances will still draw a slight amount of power. For example, energy vampires like TVs and game consoles often have a standby light to remind you that they still exist. Drawing a little power also “keeps the engine warm” so to speak, and allows these electronics to boot up to full operation more quickly. For example, my Xbox asked me if I would like it to go into standby instead of turning off so that it would boot a few seconds faster. (Obviously I declined!)

To stop this phantom power drain is simple – cut it off! You can unplug devices or plug them into a power strip and turn off the strip. Both actions cut the device off from the grid and truly turn them off. But that requires work and saving the planet just isn’t worth it. Instead, a smart power strip is going to automate this process for you. That’s right – hold my beer, it’s time to save the environment!

A smart power strip works the same way a normal power strip works; it has several outlets, a surge protector, and a short power extender.

The difference is that it also has the ability to sense whether or not electricity is flowing through the outlets and will cut itself off from the grid if it senses that everything is turned off. Simply put, if you turn something off and it’s plugged into a smart power strip, like this Tier 1 Advanced Power strip by Tricklestar, it will turn all the way off and you stop paying for it.

If you want to learn how much you can save, check out our other blog post, or do some research and run some calculations yourself. This will help you do that.