In fact, the savings (or waste) can be up to 10% of you electric power usage. The concept is called "phantom power" or "ghost power". Anything that has a light, or an LCD or LED or clock, etc, such as the blinking lights on your VCR/DVD player continue to draw energy even when they are switched off. in addition, most appliances that have to remember something, e.g. the time and date also draw power. The biggest violators however are transformers, the big plugs that generally take up two outlets on your power strip (the power strip too has a light). Because of the way they are designed, these transformers that convert AC power to DC continuously draw power from the grid with nothing to show for it.

To solve the problem, try using remote control outlets that you can switch off when you leave a room. For larger applications like computers or AV systems, Belkin makes a power strip, available at Home Depot with 8 outlets that comes with a remote control. Hitting the remote cuts power completely to any appliances or transformers plugged into the unit. This is both a convenient and economical solution.

If everyone did this, or businesses used more efficient transformers, the impact on the environment would be huge!

Those 'instant ON' color televsions are the worst energy-sapping devices. Basically, the televisions internal components are in a state of 'always on' even when the TV screen is OFF.

 -Going on a vacation for a week or two? -Unplug the TV. ..And the water bed. It won't freeze as it won't get colder than the ambient room temperature, which should be maintained through means of a thermostat. You will just need to plug it back in for several hours before you use it again, else it will be uncomfortably cool most likely..

I heard about this a while back and switched most of the large appliances and electricity sucking things to power cords that you can switch on and off. I keep the microwave unplugged and only plug it in when I use it. We have a fish tank that is on a timer too, so it automatically comes on and off.

Wow....a power strip with a remote control sounds interesting. We don't have anything like that over here.  I was impressed that we found surge strips with individual on/off buttons! LOL.  It's funny to read this about turning off appliances and stuff when we are battling horrendous energy bills here.  Living in a tropical environment, we obviously have the AC on a lot.  Things here are not really energy efficient like I am used to.  The appliances all seem like energy hogs.  We have almost full floor to ceiling windows throughout the large living room and master bedroom - in the US, they would be low e type - here the concern is being storm proof and able to withstand a large typhoon. 

We recently had an issue with the AC - we have close to central AC as what I was used to.  Ours consists of a giant exposed fan out on the laundry patio that cools water running through the pipes to create the cold air.  We have to leave this large window open so the fan doesn't overheat (which is just lovely during a typhoon) and apparently the fan is designed to run all the time.  We got our most recent bill which was over $1,300 US I believe for about 2 months.  That is more than some peoples' salaries here!  Fortunately, we are not responsible for it (thank heaven) but my fiance's company was a little stunned when he submitted one that high. We had the power guy and an AC repair man out as well - apparently it's just the unit and as soon as that fan goes on, the meter starts spinning at a high rate.  My fiance looked at others' meters in the building and same thing - no one really seems that concerned here.  That is more than I paid for 3 full summers living in the Las Vegas heat!