Many devices -- including anything with a remote control or clock -- continue to draw current when they're not in use. This graph shows how many watts of electricity common devices use when they're at work, standing idle or turned off. On average, idle machines use 11 percent of a home's electricity. Want to reduce your footprint? Get unplugged.
Devices such as the Watt Stopper Isolé ($90; below left), which connects to an infrared occupancy detector, cuts off power if a room remains empty for several minutes. Another efficiency tool, the Smart Strip Power Strip ($33; below right), cuts the current to a computer's peripherals (such as a printer) when the computer itself is turned off.