October 30th 2008
Today Is National Vampire Awareness Day. Break Out The Tru Blood.
Harness your inner-Buffy
Filed under: campaigns — Michael Andre d'Estries @ 10:25 am
Random national holidays always amuse me — like ‘Talk Like A Pirate Day’ (September 19th) or ‘Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day’ (January 29th). It generally takes little more than some organization or impassioned individual to decree a day in recognition of something; which is why we were pleased to hear that Best Buy has named today, October 30th, as National Vampire Awareness Day.
Of coure, vampires bring to mind all sorts of devilish pop culture references. Buffy and the Scooby Gang, HBO’s new series True Bood, the vegetarian vamps of Twilight, or Angel and Bunnicula.
For their part Best Buy is breaking out the info on a different kind of vamp — the kind that raises your electric bills and keeps sucking juice long after your electronics are turned off. The Department of Energy estimates that 40% of all electricity used to power electronics is consumed while the products are “off.” This costs almost $4 billion in the U.S. annually.
So — do your part! Plug all of your devices into a power strip and make sure the strip is off when not in use. Use Energy Star devices, shut down that computer, etc. If you want to take it a step further, check out the Smart Power Strip. From CleanTechnica,
“One “master” outlet on the strip controls six other “slave” outlets. When the power usage of the master outlet decreases (by a large enough amount), it automatically turns off the slave outlets. If you plug your “master electronic” like a TV or computer into the master outlet, all your periphery appliances - printers, speakers, Playstation, etc. - are automatically turned off.”
Good stuff. Pick one up here or visit Best Buy’s page for more tips on how you can stake Vampires in your own home.
via green daily
Stuff global warming in your stocking! Dedicate trees this holiday season through 
That Smart power strip sounds like a dream come true. Right now my PC is plugged into a number of power strips (I have a lot of external hard drives and other peripherals.) Having everything else auto-shutdown when I turn my computer off would be a nice help.
I was sceptical when I first heard about this vampire drain on an episode of Oprah the other day. But I gave it a test run and quickly cut out a third of my electric bill right when electricity usage shot up (it’s an all electric home.)
The house was already equipped with energy efficient bulbs but unplugging everything at night and while I’m at work really made a difference. Turning the heat off entirely while I’m out definitely helped though I don’t think it’s something I’ll be able to keep up (it takes forever to heat a ‘cold’ house with electric.)
i’ve been powerstripping it for the last year, and my friends are all amazed how little our electric bill is compared to theirs! computer, tv, everything gets turned off and clicked off when not in use. it’s such a simple thing and it makes such a difference!
p.s. LURV the spike and dru pic. ;p
[...] turned off or electrical cords not attached to a device (ie. cell phone charger.) Read about it here and see Best Buys funny and informative video [...]