Smart home devices that are mostly idleMaria Diaz/ZDNETMost smart home devices are focused on improving energy efficiency, but they can also be vampire devices. Smart devices are always consuming energy because they remain connected to either the internet or another device, like a hub. You've likely heard about unplugging common household appliances and devices when not in use to save energy. As someone with a whole-home backup system that sees multiple power outages a year, I make a habit of unplugging devices to save energy. If my home consumes 1.2kWh at any given time, I can easily halve this by unplugging devices and switching off circuits.