[tipsandtricks]

I have recently heard that when you are charging your appliances, such as your mobile phone, you should make sure that you remove the charger from the socket as soon as you are done because even though it is not charging, it still draws energy.

[Rampart]

This is true of any appliance. If it's plugged in, regardless of whether the item is 'on' or not, it's drawing electricity. You should unplug anything that you are not actually using; otherwise, you are drawing energy, and paying for it, too, even if it's 'off'.

[craftykris]

I think that is true, it can also cause fires I have been told. I'm not sure how true that is though. I always unplug my cell phone charger.

[Lucretia]

I love the program Living with Ed in the Planet Green channel. In the last episode I saw, they mentioned a power strip that takes care of the phanthom energy use. That is what is called when there are chargers, and stuffed plugged but not in use. They also have a switch that can be installed close to the door you usually go out of in your house, and it will be connected to those electric outlets that are non essentials that way you can turn them all off on your way out with only one switch. I think that one need to be installed by a professional.

[Rachel_W]

I'm all for saving money and everything, but to worry about phantom energy usage I think is over the top. I just don't see myself unplugging all these thing when not in use. I think the 'cost' in dollar amount is minuscule. I contacted the power company about 10 years ago and went over all the charges, and what I learned was that just to keep service running, even if I never used anything it costs roughly 50 dollars a month.

[Justin]

Now this thread made me wonder if we can really save energy from hibernating the computer. Is it better to shut the computer down rather than leaving it in a hibernating mode?

My parents already taught us to unplug any electric plugs if they are not being used to save electricity.

[cero]

How much energy is wasted doing this? The reason I ask is that I am in a home that has 4 spots just for 2 cells along, 2 are docks are 2 are plug in wall chargers (not docked, just the cord)....

[CrystalBrooke]

Evindently there is quite a bit of an energy drain. I saw it once on TV but I've forgotten how much but it was enough for me to start unplugging things.