# vampire power

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-power/468929>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 21, 2008, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-power/468929 "2008-10-21T19:39:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![rebent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8e8cbc/32.png) [@rebent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rebent)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-power/468929/1 "2008-10-21T19:39:15Z")

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One of my roommates sent the rest of us an email today with a link to [http://green.yahoo.com/blog/the\_conscious\_consumer/4/what-s-wasting-energy-in-your-home-right-now.html](http://green.yahoo.com/blog/the_conscious_consumer/4/what-s-wasting-energy-in-your-home-right-now.html)

This sounds like a lot of rubbish to me. I understand that some things will draw a bit of power when they are turned off, but 75%? And if vampire power makes up 75%, how can unplugging things only save 5%? I just know that he’s going to be following us around the apartment unplugging things.

So what’s the straight dope on vampire power?

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**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-power/468929/2 "2008-10-21T19:47:54Z")

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> [@rebent](#):
>
> One of my roommates sent the rest of us an email today with a link to [http://green.yahoo.com/blog/the\_conscious\_consumer/4/what-s-wasting-energy-in-your-home-right-now.html](http://green.yahoo.com/blog/the_conscious_consumer/4/what-s-wasting-energy-in-your-home-right-now.html)
> 
> This sounds like a lot of rubbish to me. I understand that some things will draw a bit of power when they are turned off, but 75%? And if vampire power makes up 75%, how can unplugging things only save 5%? I just know that he’s going to be following us around the apartment unplugging things.
> 
> So what’s the straight dope on vampire power?

Reading the article and the government FAQ it’s based on, it sounds like they read the bit about a 75% reduction in _standby_ power usage being possible with better design (i.e. from 5% to 1.25%), and thought it meant 75% of _all_ power usage.