Electricity leech

[mr_doc]

I read this:

What is standby power waste?
Most appliances, when plugged in to the wall, consume energy even when the product is not in use. These appliances include cellphone chargers, DVD's, TV's and washing machines. Consumers believe their appliance is off, when it is actually standing by and still consuming power. Test your cellphone charger - feel the charger whilst it is plugged in and not in use. It will be warm to the touch. Those are wasted watts! They are often referred to as "energy vampires" because they have 2 teeth and suck electricity continuously!

I was surprised to learn that cell phone chargers use power even when there is no cell phone connected. What could I plug in underneath somebodies couch or outside their house where they wouldn't see, that would drain a larger amount of electricity? This would just be for the purpose of making their bill large. Hypothetically

[rbcp]

The best thing would be an electric heater.  One of those old ones that glow orange.  Running one of those outside someone's house 24/7 would eat up tons of electricity.  And when the icecaps melt and your town is flooded, you can feel partially responsible for that.  You can pick up a heater like that at a thrift store for pretty cheap.

I think an electric dryer is supposed to draw the most power of any appliance in your home.  But someone might notice if you put one of those outside their house.  So use the heaters.  Or maybe 2 heaters, if you can manage that without tripping a circuit breaker.

A few months ago, I purchased a power switch box thingy to turn off all my extra appliances near the desk.  I don't know if it helps or not but at least it looks cool.