Forget Twilight and the Sookie Stackhouse series — Howard County libraries now have a device that can help people face real-life vampires. The kind that suck wasteful amounts of energy from outlets and jack up power bills, that is.

Through its new Kill A Watt program, the Howard County Library System is loaning out portable energy monitoring devices to cardholders in an effort to promote awareness of energy consumption.

The meter is simple to use: it plugs into a power outlet and then users plug an electric device — a television, lamp, refrigerator, etc. — into the meter. The Kill A Watt will read the electric device's energy usage in watts, kilowatt-hours and costs, among other measures.

One measure that can be particularly useful is reading how much energy an appliance can use even when it is switched off or not in use. These "vampire loads" can use a surprising amount of energy even when an appliance is not in use. Video game consoles and remote-controlled devices are common culprits, according to Live Green Howard County, the county's environmental initiative.

Ken Clark, chair of the Howard County Sierra Club, said his own Kill A Watt device led him to an interesting source of energy waste: his television's brightness setting. "What I've learned is that when they sell TVs they're automatically set to the brightest settings because they want them to look good in stores," he said. The difference between the store default setting and the movie setting, which uses less power, is 130 watts.

"I couldn't even see the difference between the bright setting and normal setting in my home," Clark said.

The Sierra Club donated the Kill A Watt devices to the library system. Clark said each device is worth about $25.

According to Christie Lassen, director of public relations for Howard County Libraries, there were 12 devices donated, which translates to two devices available at each branch. Currently, there is only one device available at the Savage Library.

Since the program launched July 5, all Kill A Watt devices have been put on hold or checked out. There are 25 people on the waiting list.

Devices can be borrowed for three weeks at a time, and are checked out in the same way as a book or audio tape by using a library card, said Lassen.

The Kill A Watt device is just the latest initiative by the library system to expand its offerings to members. In November, libraries started loaning Nook e-readers, which have been checked out since the program began and have a 550-person waiting list.

Beth Haynes, instructor and research supervisor at the Central Branch in Columbia, added that the library system loans out toys and electric engraving pens, as well.

Clark said he hoped the new Kill A Watt program would help people identify unnecessary energy consumption and reduce it.

"People are always talking about how to generate green energy, but really the most green way is to reduce consumption to begin with," he said.