The Phantom

Do you remember last week when we discussed my curiosity? Well this week it happened again. The result of this curiosity led me to discover this: in my own room in Brannock my roommate and I have a total of 27 outlets in our door room. Now this is obviously not just outlets on the walls, this also includes the plugs that are included in extension-cords. Nevertheless, there are still 27 places that an appliance or form of technology can be plugged in; 27 places for channels of electricity to pass. And that is just n our room alone; we must remember that we live in a suite style dorm that has four rooms. If every room has approximately the same number of outlets, that is a total of 108. That seems like a lot of electricity. And think about that on a bigger scale, like a house; that to me seems excessive.

But that is the way that our world works now a days. Everything that we love to use can’t be used unless it is plugged in and sucking up our valuable electricity. Now let me make myself clear in saying that I am not asking anyone to stop using his or her toys, it is obvious that that is unfeasible. What most people don’t realize though, is that even when these things aren’t on or being used, if they are still plugged in, the electricity is still flowing. This is known as phantom electricity. If everyone unplugged everything when it wasn’t being used, think about the amount of electricity we would be saving.

Now I understand that we can’t unplug everything; for example we obviously need to keep the refrigerator plugged in, but there are ways to prioritize what stays and what can be unplugged. While obviously things like phone chargers should always be put away since there is no reason for having them out, bigger things such as TVs are more of a question. There are devices such as Watt Meters that people can buy that measure how much electricity an appliance uses, even when not turned on. This could give you more of a general sense of what uses the most energy and allow you to make smarter decisions about what to unplug when not in use. I read one person say that when her family started doing this, they saved around $40 dollars a month on their electricity bill; so not only are you saving the environment, but you are also saving yourself money.

A.M.Y.