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A phantom load is the energy that sapped by appliances when they’re plugged in, but not on. In the average home, an unbelievable 40% of all electricity is used to power electronics while they’re turned ‘off.’

Also known as standby power or vampire power, a common culprit is a power adapter which has no power-off switch. Many electrical devices - from air conditioners to VCRs - cannot be switched off completely without being unplugged. These products draw power 24 hours a day, often without the knowledge of the consumer. While this consumption of power may provide useful functions for appliances such as digital clocks, most power consumed by non-operational devices is considered wasted.

In particularly inefficient designs, the standby power use can be as high as 15 or 20 watts. This may not seem like much for a single application, but adding up the power use of the billions of appliances in Canada is extremely significant. It is estimated that all TVs and DVDs that are ‘turned off’ cost millions of dollars a year in electricity.