Given the world concern over energy efficiency, there are little steps that you can take to ensure that you are doing your part to minimize your energy use. The biggest source of energy drains in the home are your appliances, so it will improve things a lot to make sure your appliances are energy efficient.
The first step is to determine how energy efficient your appliances are. Examine the major electrical devices in every room and write down a list of the big devices. This include the refrigerator, washer, dryer, television, your iron or any device that creates a lot of heat or an AC unit. Once you have identified every appliance in your home, examine them to determine their age. Older appliances, especially those older than 4 or 5 years, were not created with energy efficiency in mind. Note those appliances as such and consider the cost to replace them if they are continuously on, such as for a refrigerator, or if they are only used intermittently like a heater, consider other alternatives to their use.
You should also take the time to identify those items which are continuously drawing power. The refrigerator can be the single most wasteful energy sink in the kitchen. In the living room and office, the television and computer can still be drawing a significant amount of power if they are in standby, especially newer flat panel televisions. If there is a light on, then the device is still drawing power. Make note of these devices as well on your list.
Once you identified the more obvious energy hogs, take the time to identify the less obvious by reading the labeling on the device. Energy Star devices, and most other devices produced in the past decade, come labeled with their power ratings, typically in watts. Watts is a measure of the electrical energy used by the device, so the lower the rating, the better. Record the wattage of all of the devices which you can easily identify.
At this point, you have gathered all of the information which can be gathered right away. There is more you can do to measure the energy usage of your products, however. That is to use a energy meter device which sits between the appliance and the wall socket. This device will measure in exact terms the wattage and energy use of an appliance. Use this device on all appliances for which you do not know the exact wattage for. Most devices are better measured over a week or so of normal use, since the meters will average the results over the time period of use. Take these numbers down as well.
Now that you have identified the major energy usages around the home, what can you do to lower the electric bill? While there are countless ideas out there, there are a couple simple things you can do. Continuous duty items, such as the refrigerator, can be adjusted to use less power by setting the thermostats to a little warmer that the absolute maximum (making sure the fridge is still below 40 degrees Fahrenheit and the freeze below 32 degrees). Devices which are intermittent in use, such as a television or computer, should be plugged into a power strip or surge protector. Not only will these devices protect your electronics, but when your electronics are not in use, you can switch the surge protector to ensure that they are not drawing electricity. When it comes time and the money is available, take you list and replace your appliances with ones with lower energy. It doesn’t need to be difficult to make your home more energy efficient.
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Originally posted 2008-12-29 05:41:45. Republished by Old Post Promoter
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1 comment so far ↓
Good tips!
It’s not something you think about, but your television is always running “hot,” so that the picture will come on the instant you press the power button. To do that, the TV has power stored in capacitors at all times (even when it’s “off”). As you say, only by unplugging it, or turning off the surge protector, can you be assured the television is not consuming electricity.
A surge protector is a very good idea, but remember that you need to run your cable or satellite signal line through it as well to be fully protected. Lightning is much more likely to come in through your cable or phone line than the power line.
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