Cooperative Living August 2014 - 31

MEMBER FYI
ENERGETIC ENTERTAINMENT
by Brian Sloboda
Many homes boast TVs and sound
systems that can rival any football stadium
and many movie theaters. People can
save hundreds of dollars a year by watching
movies at home rather than going to
the local theater. Luckily, there are simple
steps to saving even more money if you
manage the power consumption of your
home entertainment system.
Many of the devices in your home
entertainment system and your computer
system use energy when they are turned
off. This is commonly called parasitic
load or vampire load. According to
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory,
the average home loses 8 percent of its
monthly energy consumption to these
energy vampires.
Your devices use power when turned
off because the electronics inside the
devices are still working. What these
devices are doing and the amount of energy
used when turned off varies. It could
be that they are remembering the last
channel you viewed, remembering the
language you speak or trying to turn on
faster. Devices such as TVs and DVD
players will often have power settings in
the setup menu. Try to find that menu
and adjust the settings to save more
power. Generally this will cause the
WHATZIT?
Each issue, we will
pub lish a photo of a familiar
but unidentified object.
You are invited to make
your best guess and send it
in writing with your name,
address, and phone number
to WHATZIT?, c/o Cooperat -
ive Living, P.O. Box 2340,
Glen Allen, VA 230582340;
or guess online at
www.co-opliving.com
under " Contests. " Dead -
line for entries is Aug. 20.
All correct entries will be
put into a drawing and a
winner announced in the
October 2014 issue.
The winner will re ceive a
check for $25. 
HISTORY MYSTERY
Each issue, we will publish
a photo of some person, place
or thing (or a portion thereof)
of historical significance in
Virginia, and readers will be
invited to submit their best guess
as to the identity of the photo.
Send it in writing with your
name, address, and phone
number to HISTORY MYSTERY,
c/o Cooperative Liv ing, P.O. Box
2340, Glen Allen, VA 230582340;
or guess online at
www.co-opliving.com under
" Contests. " Deadline for entries
is Aug. 20. All correct entries
will be put into a drawing and a
winner announced in the
October 2014 issue. The winner
will re ceive a check for $25. 
 DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS IS?
The June 2014
HISTORY MYSTERY
was Elsing Green
(r), on the Pamunkey
River in King
William County. The Laffery Foundation
was formed to help preserve this historic home, once
owned by Carter Braxton, a signer of the Declaration
of Independence. Sandra Pelter (l) of Bowling Green
was our $25 winner. Congratulations, Sandra!
device to take a few more seconds to
start. Many manufacturers have power
settings turned off by default.
Microwave ovens and alarm clocks,
which use relatively small amounts of
standby power, are acceptable to leave
plugged in. A digital video recorder
(DVR) uses a fairly significant amount
of power when turned off, but if you
record programs frequently, you will
want to leave it plugged in too.
You don't have to worry about unplugging
items with mechanical on/off switches,
such as lamps, hair dryers or small kitchen
appliances like toasters or mixers ― they
don't draw any power when turned off.
How do you slay other energy vampires?
Try plugging household electronics like
personal computers, monitors, printers,
speakers, stereos, DVD and video game
players and cellphone chargers into power
strips. Not only do power strips protect
sensitive electronic components from
power surges, but you can quickly turn off
several items at once.
Of course, using a power strip is a man
DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS IS?
The June 2014
WHATZIT? (r) was
an egg carton.
Reader Ronald
Lauck (l) of
Winchester was our $25 winner.
Congratu lations, Ronald!
August 2014/www.co-opliving.com
ual process and is an all-or-nothing option.
A variation on the power strip is the " smart
strip. " Smart power strips allow you to plug
devices into a specially marked section of
the power strip so they will still have power
when turned off. Other devices that can be
turned off safely are plugged into the rest
of the strip. This allows you to turn off
parts of a home entertainment system, such
as the stereo, DVD player or home theater
audio system without losing the ability to
record programs to a DVR or having to
reprogram the television every time you
want to watch a show.
Brian Sloboda is a program manger specializing
in energy efficiency for the Cooperative
Research Network, a service of the Arlington,
Va.-based National Rural Electric Cooperative
Association. 
29
http://www.co-opliving.com http://www.co-opliving.com
Cooperative Living August 2014

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