In this month’s newsletter, my electric utility company has an article on vampire electric loads.  Vampire load is electricity that is used by a device even when it appears to be turned off.  According to the EPA, nearly 10% of the average household electricity use in the US is due to vampire loads.  That’s a lot of electricity when you multiply it by all the homes and apartments in the country.  Many electronic devices such as TVs, computers, and game units use a lot of electricity while they are in sleep or off mode, getting updates or maintaining readiness to turn back on.  Chargers that are plugged in to the electric socket but not to a device are still using electricity.  Many devices have little indicator lights that stay on even when the device is turned off.  Take a look around your home or office and then try some of these ideas:

• Unplug chargers when you disconnect them from your phone, laptop, electric razor, etc.
• Put your TV, computer, printer, game unit, etc. on a power strip that can be turned off so no power can reach the electronics that are plugged into it.  Then turn it off when you leave the house or go to sleep.  According to the newsletter, you can now buy power trips that connect to your phone so you can turn them on and off easily. 
• Check settings on computers and printers and understand the sleep/hibernate modes and how much power is used.  Set these electronics up to minimize the power drain when they’re not in use. 
• Check owner’s manuals on items such as microwaves.  Mine has an energy saver setting that turns off the clock lights that I don’t need. 
• I turn off my computer monitor instead of letting it hibernate.  I’m not sure how much electricity that saves, but the little indicator light is off, at least.  

​I have seen some opinion articles recently state that individual efforts to live a more sustainable lifestyle will not solve the earth’s environmental problems because it’s the big corporations and the governments that are the main problem.  These articles ask people to spend their energy on group action to change the corporations and governments rather than reducing their individual impact on the earth.  I think BOTH types of action are needed.  We, as individuals, make choices every day that affect the earth.  When you add up all those individual choices, the result is that we are using the world’s resources and contributing to climate change at an alarming rate.  We, as individuals, need to reduce our use of energy and resources.  If we are not creating a demand for energy and large quantities of consumer products, the corporations will not produce it.  If we reduce the amount of food and paper waste going to the landfills, less methane (a greenhouse gas) will be produced by decomposition in the landfill.  We, individually and as groups, also need to voice our sustainability concerns to governments at all levels and to the corporations.  If large numbers of people vote (or vote with their pocketbooks) for politicians, policies, and consumer products that enhance sustainability and reduce factors contributing to climate change, larger-scale changes will begin.  Corporations listen to market indications (example – when more people started buying gluten free products, corporations began producing more gluten free products).  So, keep making those individual lifestyle changes to reduce your personal impact and then go one step farther.  Contact your elected officials at all levels and let them know what you support and what you don’t.  Find ways to let corporations know your preferences (I don’t know yet what that looks like for me but will let you know when I figure it out) in addition to just voting with your pocketbook.  Find an environmental group that matches your interests and values and work with them, because there is strength in numbers.