""TRUE or FALSE? No energy is used after you turn appliances and electronics off. FALSE -- A plasma TV or stereo system when turned off still slowly drains electricity, a phenomenon called ''phantom load.'' Solve this unnecessary waste by unplugging appliances or using a power strip that, when switched off, will cut off power to the device.""

(from the American Electric Power company website)....

Sorry, Martinbeef, but there's no way I'm going to reset all the tvs on a regular basis. Starting one up after the power has been out is like rebooting a 1991 IBM. It takes forever!

Considering we have 9 computers which stay on constantly, hot water which circulates through the home constantly, two gas guzzling vehicles, high ceilings, a DH who loves to keep the refrigerator door open, a DD who loves to keep all doors open, outdoor lights everywhere on a timer I can't control, and a hot tub which I forgot to turn off so now the entire pool is steaming, I don't think we'll be winning any green awards.

I do turn the water off when brushing my teeth. Will that help?

Minni,
Would I be sticking my nose where it doesn't belong if I asked how much your light bill is?

9 computers? I thought we had a lot. 6 people with 4 computers. Our 2 dss bought their own lap tops and we have 2 dino towers.

DH uses the bulk of the computers for business. I think there's about 15 total. Most are just shells, though, which only connect where they are supposed to. They aren't usable for anything else. But it does sound funny to say, "we each have 5 computers". LOL!

If aliens do ever invade, you can best be assured, they'll find our house first with all the glowing of computer screens. In regards to costs, I think our utility bills would seem ridiculous for a home, but really cheap for a business.

Hehe!!
That is so funny. Maybe you need to make some tin foil hats to protect yourselves from the aliens. ;)

about 6 mos ago DH and I went around and started unplugging all appliances that are seldom used. We placed power strips on the 3 TV units we have. The playroom TV is used just for video games and DVDs. There is no cable attached to that one. Upstairs in our room, cable is attached but we rarely watch TV in our room. Only if DH is watching something that I don't care for and I want to watch a cooking show. It takes about 1 minute for the system to boot up. Downstairs we don't turn the power strip off until night time. We also changed all light bulbs to energy efficient ones. We only use our laptop now. We disconnected the PC. My DH has a work laptop that he uses. Our electricity bill dropped just about $30 after making the phantom electricity usage changes and light bulb changes. I think that is significant.

Stacey

We didn't see any recognizable difference in our light bill when we changed to the florescent bulbs. BUT we did see a HUGE jump in our Walmart bill!! I felt like I needed to take out a loan just to buy light bulbs. Those things are outragously expensive and only last (in my experience)about 1 year as apposed to the 4 year claim. I hated the brightness of them too. So we are now going back to incandecent. Oh and let's not forget that the florescent have mercury in them so you DON"T want to break them!

I am waiting for Al Gore to have me picked off.

Don't worry. I don't think Al Gore goes to Mississippi.