{"id":1405,"date":"2019-10-29T19:20:33","date_gmt":"2019-10-29T23:20:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sense.com\/consumer-blog\/are-there-hidden-energy-vampires-in-your-home\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T14:25:36","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T18:25:36","slug":"are-there-hidden-energy-vampires-in-your-home","status":"publish","type":"consumer-blog","link":"https:\/\/sense.com\/consumer-blog\/are-there-hidden-energy-vampires-in-your-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Are There Hidden Energy Vampires in Your Home?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are vampires in every home. They never sleep and are always hungry, sucking the energy from your home and your wallet. You can recognize them by a red glow in the dark.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The vampires are your gadgets that stay on continuously, even after you\u2019ve turned them off.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the Natural Resources Defense Council and <\/span><a href=\"\/consumer-blog\/the-always-on-gap\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sense\u2019s own research<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, energy vampires consume 23% of the average home\u2019s energy \u2014 simply by staying on continuously. This means that the average home is spending $277 to $530 annually just to keep the vampires alive.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What can you do to drive a stake through the heart of your energy vampires and save hundreds of dollars? Here are three simple steps to get rid of vampires.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Step 1<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Start by figuring out how much your vampires devices are costing you. The Sense Home app includes these kinds of devices in the <\/span><a href=\"\/consumer-blog\/what-is-always-on-power\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Always On<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> category. Look at your total Always On to figure out how much of your utility bill is wasted on devices that run continuously. Tap the Always On bubble to find more details, including the total estimated cost per year. Ready to take action?<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Step 2<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now let\u2019s find those vampires. We\u2019ve identified common energy vampires to get you started. If you have any of these in your home, use the Sense <a href=\"\/consumer-blog\/real-time-energy-use-power-meter\/\">Power Meter<\/a> to figure out how much energy they are sucking from your home. Just turn the device on and off while looking at the Power Meter to see exactly how much energy it wastes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Start with these:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Swimming pools.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Between pool pumps and heaters, the <\/span><a href=\"\/consumer-blog\/dream-homes-hidden-energy-costs\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">cost of a pool<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> can add up and up. Annual cost: $310-620.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Hot tubs.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> All that hot water doesn\u2019t come cheap. Leave it off until you are in the mood for a soak. Annual cost: $600-1200.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Aquariums. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An aquarium with pump, heater, and lamp can <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.firstchoicepower.com\/the-light-lab\/energy-education\/how-much-energy-does-my-aquarium-use\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">cost $164<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> annually.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Home entertainment systems.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Watch out for the high energy demands of <\/span>cable DVRs<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"\/consumer-blog\/six-rules-guide-smart-tv-buying\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">old plasma TVs<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, game consoles, speakers, and sound bars. For detailed information on consumer electronics and energy, check out <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.cta.tech\/cta\/media\/media\/advocacy\/pdfs\/energy-consumption-of-consumer-electronics-in-u-s-homes-in-2017-(fraunhofer-usa,-commissioned-by-cta,-december-2017).pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">this report<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from the Consumer Technology Association.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Coffee makers<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Single-serve machines use a heating element to keep the water warm at all times, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.firstchoicepower.com\/the-light-lab\/energy-education\/how-much-energy-does-my-coffee-maker-use\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">draining 60W per hour continuously<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and adding up to $60 annually to your bill.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Surveillance cameras. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A great way to catch porch pirates, but a single Nest camera uses up to 7-9W continuously, costing $7-17 annually, depending on your utility rates.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Incandescent spotlight bulbs.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Annual cost: <\/span><a href=\"\/consumer-blog\/dream-homes-hidden-energy-costs\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">$210 for six 100W bulbs <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">turned on 8 hours a day.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This list is just a starting point. Keep looking for your very own vampires, which may be different from these. If you&#8217;re ready to take an even deeper dive into your Always On load, check out <a href=\"\/consumer-blog\/dive-deeper-into-your-always-on-load\/\">this post<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3><b>Step 3<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Get rid of the vampires.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Turn them off.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Do your vampires really need to be running all the time? If not, unplug them when not in use or put them on smart power plugs or strips like the ones from <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/help.sense.com\/hc\/en-us\/articles\/360011987134-How-Do-I-Use-Sense-With-Smart-Plugs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">TP-Link and Wemo<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Replace vampires. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do research about your vampires and replace them with more efficient models. For instance, a variable-speed pool pump could reduce your pool\u2019s energy demands dramatically (see <\/span><a href=\"\/consumer-blog\/dream-homes-hidden-energy-costs\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">this story<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from one of our customers). When it comes to purchasing consumer electronics, only 38% of consumers say that energy efficiency is very important to them when choosing which model of consumer electronics to purchase. Check for the ENERGYSTAR certification for any gadget before you bring it into your home!<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Let fewer vampires into your home.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> While gadgets like smart TVs and mobile phones have become very efficient, having lots of consumer electronics in your home adds up. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cta.tech\/advocacy\/greener-gadgets\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Consumer Technology Association<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> estimates that 12% of a home\u2019s average utility bill goes to consumer electronics.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At Sense, we did <\/span><a href=\"\/consumer-blog\/the-always-on-gap\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">our own analysis<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of vampire devices that are Always On. Our research found that the top 90% of Sense households (measured by energy consumption) used 15x the vampire energy of the bottom 10%. They were larger homes filled with more than twice as many consumer electronics and other Always On devices. All those gadgets were driving up energy bills.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>This Halloween, if you have vampires in your house \u2014 and we suspect you do \u2014 start hunting!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Garlic, wooden stakes, and a Sense Home Energy Monitor \u2014 all you need for vampire hunting this Halloween.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1406,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"1","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"consumer-blog-category":[7],"content-type":[13],"featured":[],"class_list":["post-1405","consumer-blog","type-consumer-blog","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","consumer-blog-category-energy-usage-tips","content-type-article"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Are There Hidden Energy Vampires in Your Home? 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