Find "Energy Vampires" in your home

Lawrence Berkeley Labs estimates that between 5 and 10% of all home energy goes to "standby power" or "always on power", consumed by devices that appear to be off but still consume energy.  Frequent culprits include televisions, home entertainment centers, whole-house fans, telephone chargers and other AC adaptors.  Such devices are sometimes called "energy vampires", since they invisibly sip power power twenty four hours a day without you knowing it.

The Energy Use speedometer in the BlueDot application makes it easy to identify and evict these "energy vampires":

1. Pick an appliance, such as your home entertainment center. 
2. On the "Energy Use" screen of your BlueDot application, tap the center of the speedometer.  A zero line appears that notes the current power being drawn by your home.
3. If the appliance has a plug, unplug it.  If the appliance lacks a plug, such as a pool pump or whole-house fan, make sure that it is fully switched off.
4. Wait a few seconds and read the savings per hour at the center of the speedometer.  You may have to wait up to two updates to get an accurate reading.
5. To convert the savings per hour to savings per month, multiply the number by 730.