Why use power strips?

Home appliances and personal electronic devices pull electricity when in use, as we all would expect. Most also pull electricity when not in use, either while they wait poised on "standby," or because they have a clock or LED light, or because their plug is poorly designed. (Only today did I learn the term "wall wart" as applied to the black transformer boxes appended to our phones, laptops, etc., which draw power simply when plugged into an outlet, even if not plugged into their affiliated gadget.) The amount of "phantom" power drawn in an average U.S. home is expensive per home and truly impressive nationally. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, around 75 percent of the energy used by our home appliances is drawn while we think they are "off." Typical offenders include microwaves, stereo equipment, televisions, chargers for cell phones or iPods and co., and all the computer equipment.