Plug Load

These can be called ‘vampire’ loads: that coffee pot left on ‘warm’, the TV cable box in standby mode, the computer left in standby.

Modern design and efficiency standards have done great work in reducing these standby losses – your modern computer barely draws more than a Watt or two in standby – but as we move to the ‘internet of things’, you will start to find more devices needing to be kept powered.

What to do? Turn them off when you really don’t need them. Limit what you buy that has standby power requirements.