Are you wanting cheaper electricity ? Well, I guess we all would love that, unfortunately, I don’t think that you’ll see the cost of electricity do anything other can continue to rise in cost.

Although we may never actually see cheaper electricity, there are still ways to lower your electric bill, and lower them substantially. One of the first things most people should address is, phantom loads. If you’re not familiar with the term, don’t feel bad, probably most people don’t know about phantoms loads, and if they do, they probably don’t realize the amount of the waste.

Phantoms loads are those electrical products that draw electrical current even when they’re not actually being used for their intended purpose. One example is chargers – whether a charger for your cellular phone, or maybe a charger for your notebook computer. Even when they’re not being used to charge, they’re still using electricity. If you feel the charger while it’s plugged into the wall it will usually feel warm. That’s a sure sign that energy is being consumed.

Exactly how much energy is being wasted though ? You may think that such a relatively low-power device such as a small charger couldn’t use that much electrical power, and you would be right. It’s the cumulative amount of waste however, that adds up to an amazing amount of wasted electrical power.

To put it in perspective, according to a Department of Energy study, the total amount of wasted electrical energy in the United States due to phantoms loads, would be enough to power the entire country of Australia for a year!! Australia is a country of about 2 million people, so that gives you an idea of the massive scope of this hidden, somewhat unknown problem.

What are some of the common phantom loads that most people have in their house sucking up the electrical energy ?

* Microwave Ovens
* Any Device with a Standby Light or Clock
* Computers, Printers and Digital Monitors
* DVD Players, DVRs, VCRs, Some Stereo Systems
* Most Home Video Game Consoles
* Any Device with an “Instant On” Function (Can be turned on with a remote)
* Remote Control Air Conditioners

Those are a sample of the type of devices that are probably causing you to spend much more on your electric bill every month than you need to. Obviously, most are very convenient to have available, but couldn’t you probably do without a clock on your microwave oven ? Do you really need to have your cellular phone charger plugged in 24/7 ? Couldn’t you probably totally shut down your computer system when it’s not being used ?

Most people understand numbers really well. It’s estimated that most households waste at least 5% of their annual electricity consumption on phantom electrical loads, and that estimation was from a few years ago. It’s probably safe to say that many households waste even more now, as the number of owned electronic gadgets regularly increases.

Another number that may really get your attention is, the amount of wasted electrical power annually in the United States, is equivalent to the power output by 18 typical power stations!! With the amount of pollution put into the air by coal-fired power plants being so substantial, not only would we as Americans save a tremendous amount of money by limiting our phantom loads, we could do much to help limit the amount of pollution from the burning of coal.

One last number that will hopefully get your attention. We burn enough coal annually in the United States, to fill railroad cars from New York to Los Angeles, and then around the world 4 times!! That’s some major pollution…and a ridiculous amount of waste thrown in to boot.

We’ve got one planet, and precious little time in order to get things going in a different direction. Why not save yourself some money, and help save the Earth for generations to come in the process ?

So, you may not get your cheaper electricity, but you can sure reduce the amount you use, and reduce it substantially.