Vampire Power is a real thing and we're all probably guilty of it. Also known as standby power, vampire power is when an appliance is turned off but still plugged in and using up energy. So Whyville teamed up with the National Science Foundation to create a new game in Whyville called, what else, Vampire Power.
Vampire Power can give you instant clams and also can help you earn up to 17 clams of salary.
The goal of the game is to reduce the amount of vampire power being used in Whyville by turning off and unplugging appliances. Count Ampula, the vampire, is the evilest energy waster of them all. He'll even show up and plug in appliances after you've unplugged them!
You can find appliances in the bedroom, kitchen, and living room of Vampire Manor, where Count Ampula lives as well as in many chatrooms in Whyville. Click on the appliance to measure how much energy it is using. You can measure watts, kilowatt-hours, cost, and level of carbon dioxide. The most important way to measure energy is in watts because that's what counts toward your salary.
There are three brands of appliances in Whyville: Nebula, Spark, and Apex (talk about a monopoly!). You will need to measure an appliance in it's three states: turned on (and in use), turned on but not in use (standby), and turned off but still plugged in. You will need to measure each brand of appliance in each of the three states. Once you have completed this for two appliances, you will earn one clam of salary.
For each appliance you correctly turn off, you will instantly earn five clams. If you correctly unplug the appliance, you will earn another five clams. I will go into what "correctly" exactly means later.
Think about if you were watching TV. Would you want someone to just turn it off and unplug it, when you're right in the middle of your show? No, probably not. You'd probably be mad. You wouldn't do that in Whyville either!
Do's and Don't of Vampire Power:
DO Turn off/disconnect an appliance when you see one of these phrases:
- No one is in the room
- No one is using it
- No one plans to drink it (coffee)
- No one is playing/listening
- Making the room uncomfortably warm
- Fully charged
- Appliance is in sleep mode
- For the alarm clock, if no alarm has been programmed
- It is not being used, and it is wasting energy.
DO NOT turn off/disconnect an appliance if you see any of these phrases:
- Someone is in the room
- Someone is using it
- Coffee is brewing
- Making the room comfortably warm
- Appliance is charging
- For the alarm clock, never unplug it; it won't be able to keep track of time if you do.
- For the cordless phone, never turn it off or disconnect it. Then none of the calls would get through!
- It is not wasting energy.
DO unplug an appliance if:
- It has been turned off, but it is still wasting energy.
DO NOT unplug an appliance if:
- It is not wasting any energy.
Hint: Make sure to measure all forms of energy before turning off or unplugging an appliance. For example, if it is still plugged in it may not cost anything, but it still may be using watts.
Unhelpful Actions:
If you do any of the "do nots" listed, it will count as an "unhelpful action". You can only do three unhelpful actions in one day. You can still earn instant clams playing vampire power, but it will not count towards your salary or the weekly contest. To do this, you will have to be in "explore mode". To turn on explore mode, go to your Vampire Power Journal and check the box that says "explore mode".
Did you know?
Count Ampula will sometimes show up in chat rooms and turn on and plug in appliances and counteract your energy-saving good deeds. To stop him, you can throw garlic projectiles at him. Everybody knows vampires hate garlic! You can buy your own or get 10 free garlic projectiles from
Igor.
Don't know how to throw projectiles? Check out my article here:
