Phantom, vampire, or standby power refers to the energy that some appliances and equipment use even when they are turned off. These appliances include items such as televisions, VCRs, stereos, computers, and some kitchen appliances. Even cell phone chargers and other chargers or transformers left plugged-in will draw power.
Generally, anything with a soft touch key pad, remote control, timer, microprocessor, instant-on feature, or clock uses standby power. Look for the red or green small lights that indicate an item is still drawing power.
While the amount of standby power losses vary between electrical appliances, losses on Plasma TVs can be as high as 75 watts per hour. If left plugged-in, that would be the same as a 75 watt lightbulb turned on in your house for 24 hours per day 365 days a year. It is not always easy to determine the standby power losses of appliances in a home, but you can reduce the losses by purchasing ENERGY STAR® rated appliances and electronics and those with power-down features.
To stop your appliances and electronics from using standby power, either unplug them, or plug them into a power strip, and then turn the power strip off when the appliances are not needed.
For information about computer standby power from the U.S. Department of Energy, go to When to turn off personal computers
