Anyways, let's jump right in.
Sounds Sinister!
Absolutely! But what the heck is it? Well, phantom power is when an electronic device draws power when it's "off". Different devices draw more power than others, and it varies based on manufacturer and model, but the worst offenders are home entertainment and office equipment. Up to 10% of your annual electricity bill may be phantom power.
I also expand the definition a bit to include things that draw power when they probably could be off, but are left on due to forgetfulness or inconvenience.
Wasted power.
For example, we have a home server network drive that stays on 24/7. It absolutely doesn't need to be on when we're not here or when we're sleeping, but that hard drive spins all the time.
Why don't we just turn it off? Because you have to hold the button for like 10 whole seconds to shut it down, and then it takes probably a full minute to start up again later. To top it all off, I have to walk all the way across the room to do all of this stuff.
...
Weak. I know.
What can we do?!
It's not all doom and gloom; there are a number of different ways to reduce the phantom power being consumed in your home.
Phantom Power Switches
The Vereco home designs include phantom power switches as a standard feature to be included. The phantom power switches are just on your wall like a light switch, but their placement, and their reach, are up to you.
If you have a small house, you might just have a single phantom power switch at the front door that you can hit before you leave. This switch might cut the power to some specific outlets around the house, or it might turn off the top half of every outlet. If you are building a larger house, you might have a switch on each level, or maybe an additional dedicated one just for your home entertainment equipment.
We saw phantom power switches used to the extreme on our honeymoon to Europe. In Brussels, Belgium, our hotel had a slot to insert your room key in the wall. If your card wasn't there, no electricity flowed in the room whatsoever. You couldn't leave the lights on if you wanted to. In London, United Kingdom, every outlet had a switch beside it to turn it on or off. It was a very convenient way to manage the power we were using.
In order to get the maximum effectiveness out of your phantom power switches, you'll have to spend a bit of time thinking about your electronic devices, how they're going to be placed in your house, how they work, and when you use them (and when you don't).
Now, you don't have to build a whole house to reduce your phantom power. A smart power bar will have three types of outlets; one sensor outlet, a few dependent outlets, and a few always-on outlets.
Here's what you do, you plug your TV into the sensor outlet, and plug your cable box, your game console, and your media player into the dependent outlets. Once the smart power bar senses the power draw to the TV has dropped sufficiently, it will cut the power to the dependent outlets, and eliminate the phantom power drawn.
Need to PVR something? Just plug it into one of the always-on outlets.
Timers
Timers can be be really useful for managing regular power usage. You can use them inside your house to shutdown the power to your home entertainment system while you're at work during the day.
You can also use them outside to only allow power to your block heater for a certain amount of time. SaskPower has determined that your vehicle's block heater only needs to be on for about four hours. Any more time above four hours is just wasted power. So, setup a timer to only allow power for four hours before you leave in the morning. Done! In Saskatchewan, SaskPower and CAA will give you a free block heater timer.
Home Automation
Home automation is growing rapidly, and there are a lot of interesting devices out there. Home automation makes use of wifi-connected devices to give you the ability to turn on, turn off, and modify devices in your home from your smartphone, tablet, or computer.
Belkin for example makes the WeMo Switch, which allows you to toggle an outlet from your smartphone. This will allow you to conveniently turn off your home entertainment system from your couch, and also easily turn it off from work if you forgot to before you left home.
This isn't limited to power consumption either. Nest makes a wifi-connected thermostat. It's a programmable thermostat, which reduces your energy usage by letting your house cool down (or heat up in the summer) when you're not there, or at night. But, if you're going to be getting home late from work, you can pop open the app on your smartphone, and just delay the start of the heating. This will reduce your overall energy usage.
These devices are evolving rapidly, and it's only a matter of time before we see more advanced products.
Lifestyle Changes
No amount of switches, smart power bars, timers, or home automation can save us from ourselves. Our own choices, more than anything, determine the power that our house consumes. Remember that phantom power includes not only power consumed by devices that are "off", but just general wasted power.
Now, no one likes this. Everyone flashes back to their parents lecturing them about leaving the lights on upstairs...
*Shudder*
But, I'm not talking about wholesale lifestyle changes; just little, common sense things.
Don't want to buy a smart power bar or a bunch of timers? Plug everything into a standard power bar, and then just make sure to switch off the power bar before bed, or before you leave. It takes one second to do, but it just has to be done.
(Just one sec. I'm just going to shut off our network drive out of guilt.)
Do you really need a second fridge running 24/7 to keep 10 cases of beer cold in case you decide you want one? Could you instead find some space in the door of your main fridge for a few beers? Or, how about Sunday morning before the big game toss a case or two in your main fridge? They'll be cool by game time! SaskPower will pickup your old, second fridge free of charge.
Do you really need those jeans tonight? Could you wear another pair now, and then wash a full load of clothes later, rather than running your washer and dryer twice?
No one loves lifestyle changes, but with just a bit of forethought and some more selflessness, we can really reduce the power that we use, and reduce our collective impact on the environment.
Well, now what?
As with anything, you'll get the best results if you make use of a number of different strategies. You have to make reducing your electrical footprint a priority, understand the devices in your home, and take the time to plan how you're going to power (and not power) them. Cutting phantom power doesn't have to be hard, inconvenient, or time-consuming to do, but it is going to save you money on your power bill, and help reduce your impact on the environment. If enough people take these steps, the effect can be really significant.
