Yet an Ipsos Reid survey of 2,200 Canadians, done for Natural Resources and posted to a government website this week, shows public understanding of standby power is sketchy at best. And few Canadians are taking action to limit the energy squandered when their own computers, televisions, DVD players and other devices aren't in use.

When shut off, all electronic products with clocks, timers, remote controls or external power supplies (such as cordless telephones) draw standby power, sometimes referred to as "phantom power," "vampire loads" or "leaking electricity."

Canada has committed to the "one-watt initiative," an energy-saving proposal by the International Energy Agency to reduce standby power use in all appliances to just one watt. According to the Natural Resources study, enacting a one-watt standby mode regulation would cut the national vampire load by 75 per cent -- roughly the equivalent of residential electricity consumption in New Brunswick.