I calculated that Americans could provide health insurance for over a half a million kids if we just unplugged. According to the New York Times, Americans spend 1 billion dollars a year to power turned off TVs and VCRs, cell phone and iPod chargers, answering machines and computers in standby mode. Many of these items use only half as much energy as they "suck out of the wall".

I did the "half a million kids" calculation myself. I remembered seeing this pretty frightening web site (www.costofwar.com) that had a running total of the money we are spending to finance the war in Iraq compared to the cost of pre-school, kids' healthcare, education, college scholarships, public housing, world hunger, the AIDS epidemic and world immunization. According to that Web site, it costs around $1700/year to insure one kid. (Who's their insurance provider? Walmart?) I divided one billion by 1700 and got 588,235. That's a lot of kids!

According to the article, our TVs, VCRs and other electronic devices remain in standby mode drawing 1,000 kilowatt hours a year per household - enough energy to light a 100-watt lightbulb 24/7. The one statistic I wish I hadn't read:

A computer left on continuously can draw nearly as much power as an efficient refrigerator - 70 to 250 watts, depending on the model and how it is used.

Guilty. Guilty. Guilty.