By MATTHEW L. WALD
WASHINGTON - Households across the land are infested with vampires. That's what energy experts call those gizmos with two sharp teeth that dig into a wall socket and suck your juice all night long. All day long, too, and all year long.
Most people assume that when they turn off the television set it stops drawing power.
But that's not how most TV's (and VCR's and other electronic devices) work. They remain ever in standby mode, silently sipping energy to the tune of 1,000 kilowatt hours a year per household, awaiting the signal to roar into action.
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