Odds & Ends Post #3: APC Slurpee

Over the past two-and-a-half months, I've been learning a lot about my home power consumption. I've made some small modifications in my energy use that have resulted in some big savings according to my monthly energy bill. But there have been a few lessons learned along the way that are important to make note of and correct.

For example, a few weeks back I made major modifications to the manner in which I run my home computer. In short, I now power down my entire system when not in use and cut power to the whole thing by turning off my APC battery backup/surge protector. But I soon noticed that even though I shut off the power on the APC, my printer-- which I don't power down manually-- remained on. The printer was running on battery power, which was apparently being charged continually. In other words, the APC continued to suck power from the outlet even though I physically powered it down. Despite my best of intentions, it looked like my backup was thwarting my efforts.