Your desktop computer is consuming energy, even when you're not using it

Vampire power is costing you and the planet, big time! Simply put, you're paying electric bills for stuff you aren't using.

Experts estimate that vampire power (also known as stand by power) accounts for 10 percent of an average home's annual power usage. It also accounts for 1 percent of the world's carbon dioxide emissions - imagine if we all just took the time to turn things off properly.

There are many sneaky energy hogs to look out for, but today we're concentrating on the desktop computer.

Desktop computers are massive energy hogs in many homes and offices around the world.

Here's a shocking little stat for you.. The California Plug Load Research Center at the University of California, Irvine, found Desktop computers spent 61 percent of their time "on but user-inactive," referring to idle modes like sleep, in which the computer continues to guzzle energy.

There is an upside,aLaptops/notebooks can use less than half as much energy as a desktop. Tablets use even less! Desktops also need to consume a lot of power to shut down and start up, laptops, etc, don't.

The How To Geek shares some information on how to prevent your desktop draining power:

"With a desktop, there are several clear ways you can prevent it from using power. You can turn the computer off by flicking the main power switch located on the power supply — you'll find it on the back of most traditional desktop PC towers. This switch cuts power to the computer's power supply, so there won't be power draw. If you want something more convenient, you can just plug the desktop PC into a power strip — you are using a surge protector that provides a power strip, aren't you? — and power off the surge protector when you're not using your PC. This set-up would also allow you to easily cut power to your other electronics, preventing any "phantom load" caused by devices staying in standby mode."