Energy

Everywhere you look today you see thousands of companies declaring that their gadgets are the most energy efficient and the “greenest”.  Energy can be electricity and other fuels such as natural gas, fuel, oil etc. Conserving energy also means taking advantage of renewable, self-sustaining energy source such as solar and wind. Using green gadgets makes it EZ to converse energy and save money at the same time. We want to make it EZ to buy green (or greener) gadgets that help you cut unnecessary energy use.

Your Energy Use

You can determine the amount of energy your devices and gadgets are using or the energy you are wasting depending on how you look at it. One of the first things to do is manage your energy vampires. Once you have done that then there are several good devices on the market that help you determine your energy use and manage it.

Calculating your energy use online calculators similar to these is the first step when considering whether to buy a green gadget or not:
http://homeenergysaver.lbl.gov/consumer/
http://energy.gov/energysaver/articles/estimating-appliance-and-home-electronic-energy-use
http://energyusecalculator.com/

Energy Vampires

You can start your energy usage evaluation by looking at all of the electronic devices in your home or at work that use energy even when not in use, commonly referred to as energy vampires. Energy vampires are devices that while using standby power slowly suck power while not providing any useful function. Standby power is the energy used by some products when they are turned off but still plugged into a power/wall outlet. While this standby power sometimes provides useful functions such as remote control, clock displays, and timers.

Your home office and home electronics equipment, chargers for cell phones, ipods, power tools, etc. suck energy from your home when they are plugged into an outlet, when they aren’t charging. Most of the time these chargers are using the same amount of energy as when they are charging your device. According to the EPA the amount of energy used by products when they are in standby mode is significant. The average U.S. household spends $100 per year to power devices while they are off (or in standby mode). On a national basis, standby power accounts for more than 100 billion kilowatt hours of annual U.S. electricity consumption and more than $10 billion in annual energy costs.