Have you heard the term “Vampire Electronics”? Conservation advocates have coined the phrase to describe those appliances that are left plugged in all the time and quietly suck small amounts of electricity. Most electronic devices in our homes are sucking up energy even while they are turned off. This includes our microwaves, coffeepots, DVD players and stereos. They say that 5 percent of the power used in the United States goes to fuel these standby appliances, to the tune of $4 billion a year.