Originally Posted by
Gizmologist 
So how much phantom load do you have?
A cell phone charger uses 0.5 watts when it is just sitting there without a cell plugged in. That adds up to 0.012 kilowatt hours per day or $0.0017. For an entire month it uses 0.36 kilowatt-hours or $0.05 per month. Yearly it uses 4.32 kilowatt hours per year or $.60 per year.
An LCD TV of greater then 40 inches uses about 3 watts of power when it appears to be off, so the TV consumes 0.003 kilowatts per hour at a cost of $0.0042 per hour. For a day it uses 0.72 kilowatt hours or $0.10 every day. Per month it uses 2.16 kilowatt hours or $0.30 per month. Yearly it uses 25.92 kilowatt hours or $3.63 per year.
A computer uses 4 watts when it is off, 17 watts when it is asleep or 68 watts when it is on.
If you turn your computer off it is still taking in 0.004 kilowatts or costing you $0.00056 per hour which turns into 0.096 kilowatt hours a day or $0.01 every day. Over a month it uses 2.88 kilowatts hours or costs $0.40. In a year it will use 34.56 kilowatt hours or $4.83.
When you put the computer to sleep (lullaby little technology, go to sleep) it still draws around 0.017 kilowatts per hour or $0.00238 per hour. That is 0.408 kilowatt hours each day or $.06 per day. Monthly that works out to 12.24 kilowatt hours or costs $1.71 per month. For an entire year that adds up to 146.88 kilowatt hours or $20.56 for a year.
If you're like me and you leave your computer on all the time, it uses 0.068 kilowatts per hour, costing$0.01 per hour. Over one day it uses 1.632 kilowatts hours or $0.23 per day. If I left the computer on for a month it would use 48.96 kilowatt hours and cost $6.85. If I left it on for a whole year it would use 587.52 kilowatt hours and cost me $82.25.
After writing this blog I now turn my home computer off when I come to work.
A DVD player uses 1 watt while turned off or 0.001 kilowatt per hour and cost $0.00014 per hour so the DVD player uses 0.024 kilowatt hours a day and cost $0.00336 each day. Over a month it would use 0.72 kilowatt hours and cost $.10. Each year it would use 8.64 kilowatt hours and cost $1.21.
