What is vampire electricity, what can we do to save electricity in our homes?

If you find you’ve stopped using power after turning off your TV, or if you keep leaving your charger plugged in even when you don’t plug in your phone, this article may lead you to change some of your daily habits. If you want to be energy efficient, adopt greener habits, and cut your energy bills, let us introduce you to the concept of vampire electricity. Vampire electricity, called standby power or ghost charges, is the power that electronic devices consume even after they are put on standby or turned off. For example, light bulbs do not continue to consume electricity after being turned off, but your game console will continue to consume energy after you turn it off unless you unplug it, the state of this console that is reflected in your bill is actually vampire electricity.

If you like, you can also take a look at the Instagram post prepared by Ahmet Akar, one of our Uplifers contributors.

Vampire electrical devices

So, what other electronic devices in our home contribute to vampire electricity?

• Charging device
• coffee machines
• microwave
• Television
• Laptops in sleep mode
• Gaming consoles
• Printers
• Smart TV boxes
• Audio systems
• Extension cords with switch
• Wired digital clock
• Modems are among the electronic devices that are widely used in homes and consume vampire electricity.

Of course, constantly turning off the modem that you need and use does not make sense, but you can turn it off when you are not at home or on vacation, even for a short time. On the other hand, you can save energy and reduce the extra burden on your electricity bill by unplugging appliances like chargers and coffee makers that you don’t use all the time. The next time you’re done with your computer, you can reduce the power consumption of the vampire in your home and do your part to protect the environment by turning it off completely instead of putting it to sleep.

Ways to reduce electricity consumption

In addition to turning off appliances that use vampire electricity in your home, you can also save energy by making some changes to your daily habits:

• If possible, run the washing machine on cold water mode.
• If possible, dry your laundry outdoors instead of in a dryer.
• Disconnect any chargers you are not using.
• Use energy saving light bulbs. With LED lamps, you can reduce your lighting costs by up to 80%.
• Your home appliances use an average of 50% of the energy in your home, choose A++ models when replacing or buying new ones.
• Turn off all unnecessary lights.
• Do not open the door frequently when using the oven.
• Do not keep the refrigerator door open for a long time.
• Do not run the dishwasher and washing machine until they are full.
• Use a smart thermostat and set it to 22 degrees for living rooms and 20 degrees for bedrooms, which is considered ideal. You can save an average of 6% energy with a 1°C decrease in temperature.
• Disable the ability of your game consoles to instantly download games and updates.
• Make sure the building’s exterior insulation is adequate.
• Use two or three layers of glass in your windows to provide thermal insulation.
• Do not place large furniture in front of the heater cores to ensure efficient heat dissipation.
• Do not put hot food in the refrigerator until it has cooled down.

On the other hand, you can save money by reducing the need for electricity. Of course, you will continue to use your charger and computer to charge your coffee machine for delicious coffee or your phone, but you can reduce your electricity consumption by limiting communication with certain electronic devices from time to time. For example, next time you can read a book instead of turning on the game console, take up an art hobby instead of watching TV shows, or play board games with your loved ones. So you can give meaning to your time, do what you love and have fun at home without using electricity.

You may be interested in: Saving tips to help you protect the environment while contributing to your home economy.