Saturday, July 6

Dear Dot,

What is a smart plug?

–Julia D.

Dear Julia,

A smart plug is a little device (available on Amazon) that plugs into an outlet and into which you can plug appliances and other devices. But because it's “smart,” you can control it remotely, turning off said devices and appliances when they’re unneeded or charged. In that way, smart plugs can save you energy and reduce or eliminate what’s called “phantom” energy. “Phantom power, for those who aren’t familiar with the term, isn’t the realization that poltergeists are living in your attic (though who’s to say they’re not?),” I wrote in a previous column. “Sometimes also called ‘standby power,’” I continued, “it refers to the roughly 10 percent of a home’s energy sucked by various devices in your house, whether or not they are in use. Likely culprits include anything with a blinking light or LED display — a stereo, a coffee maker, a computer monitor, but also chargers for electronics, even when your devices aren’t charging or hooked up at all. The old advice was to unplug anything you didn’t need from the wall, but given the ever-increasing number of appliances and gadgets in our homes, that’s no longer practical.” 

Though I wasn’t as familiar with smart plugs when I wrote that earlier column, Julia, I appreciate your question, because it alerted me to their increasing ubiquity. I plan to add “smart plugs” in my home to reduce my energy consumption. Every little bit matters.

Smartly,
Dot

Do you have a question for Dot? Send it to deardot@bluedotliving.com