Engadget HD on Vampire Energy - don't shoot the plasma

Yesterday we showed you GOOD Magazine's data on Vampire Energy, but Ben Drawbaugh from Engadget HD didn't like the look of it.

Using a Kill A Watt, he measured the standby draw of a 60-inch Pioneer Kuro plasma to be 20 Watts - that's an annual cost of $20 (based on a price of $0.11 per kilowatt-hour) - far from the $159 figure that GOOD Magazine claimed.

Indeed, Ben would need to watch that Kuro for eight hours a day, seven days a week and include the standby draw from the remaining 16 hours a day before he reached an equivalent yearly cost.

So before you go taking someone else's word for how much power your TV uses, try running the appliances in your home or office through a Kill A Watt.

How much does it cost to just leave your HDTV plugged in? [Engadget HD]