Group+Topic+Response

By: Joseph Kaluzny Assisted By: Dale Steinmetz (Individual Investigation)

I think that we should do our project on the topic of phantom load. Phantom load is the power consumed by a device while switched off. One reason that energy is still used is so that electronics, such as TVs, can turn on very fast. Another is that some appliances have lights to tell if they are on or off, such as DVD players. In this project we would figure out how much energy a “turned off” house uses. A way we could do this is see how much a house uses in an hour and then multiply that by 24 for a day, multiply that by 7 for a week, etc. I think that a lot of people would find this topic interesting because most people think that when you turn something off it stops using energy. If we found a way to convert how much energy a turned off item used to money, then a lot of people would not only learn something new, but if we gave them tips on how to save energy and money it would help them, help themselves. I think that a phantom load project would be one of a kind. If we gave how much energy and money a room, such as Mr. Mlsna's, used when off and how much when on, I'm sure that he would be surprised too. My idea for this project is that we go through someone's house and find out how much energy and money each separate appliance uses. Some appliances we might use are a TV, a computer, and a lamp. Then we could go through a classroom and figure out how much that energy that room uses. Once we get all of our data we could put it in a Prezi and insert a picture of each separate appliance we are specifically talking about and compare the loss of energy between the appliances. In the Prezi, we could also discuss the difference between regular and energy star appliances and see if it's worth it to buy more expensive appliances. This presentation would be an eye opener for a lot of people. All of my background knowledge on this topic has come through thorough research. I looked online and found out that in just one year a plasma screen TV uses about $105 while you’re not even watching it. Another thing we could include in the project is teaching how power strips can minimize energy loss and by just switching it off at night you could save hundreds of dollars. It’s estimated that the wasted energy in America through phantom load could power Greece, Peru, and Vietnam. This project could help us prevent energy loss and preserve it for more important purposes. That is why I would like to do this project on phantom load.