Learn how to reduce your electricity bill and reduce pollution! You first have to find out exactly how much electricity the electronics in your house are using...
A while back, my friend and I were raising seven kittens along with the "Momma Cat" that gave birth to them. We noticed that two of the kittens were getting gigantic though, while some of the others were looking under-fed. After some observation we found that the gigantic ones were being milk hogs and were sucking up all of Momma Cat's milk - leaving none for the other kittens. So, we started putting a time limit on how long the giants were allowed to drink Momma Cat's milk then we'd remove them to a separate play pin.
The point is, once we found out which kittens were the milk hogs, we could remove them from sucking Momma Cat dry. Now, it's time for us to learn which of the electronics in our home are energy hogs so they don't suck our wallets and the planet dry!
Kittens drink ounces of milk. Electronics drink watts of electricity.
The electronics in your home (TVs, lights, video games, toasters, etc.) are all drinking up some number of watts of electricity. Something like an alarm clock will only drink a small number of watts (1 or 2) but an energy hog like a space heater may drink 1400 watts!
An energy meter will tell you how many watts of electricity something uses. I bought this one for about $20 online. Just plug it into an outlet and connect your TV, computer, or any other electronic to the front.
I plug an alarm clock into my energy meter and learn that it only uses 1 watt of electricity.
I plug in a 46" LCD TV and see that it's using 250 watts of electricity - that's a lot for a TV. But by reducing the TV's Backlight setting, it will use 75% less electricity! This is something everyone can easily do.
Try it: Move the slider below the TV...
Such a simple adjustment can make your TV way more energy efficient. With the Backlight all the way down this TV will run 4 times longer per dollar of electricity. In other words, watching 1 episode with the Backlight all the way up uses the same amount of electricity as watching 4 episodes with the Backlight all the way down.
Lower watts = lower electricity bill
Go ahead. Bump down the Backlight on Grandma's TV she leaves running all day she wont notice!
My brother leaves his TV on all day so his little inside dog can listen to the news and stay up to date on current events. I politely told him that's a wasteful way to entertain a dog but he kept on doing it. So... I snuck in his house like a ninja and set the TV's Backlight to 0%. At least now he'll be wasting less electricity!
Next, I plug in a 32" LED TV and get similar results. Reducing the Backlight makes this TV run on about one third the electricity and cost one third the money to run.
Try it: Move the slider below the TV...
With the Backlight all the way down this TV runs on only 16 watts! We'll let Grandma watch some more of her reruns on a TV that efficient! Plus, the reduced Backlight is better on your eyes and helps you sleep better.
So, saving electricity is really just a game of lowering the number of watts you use in your daily life. That's why an energy meter is so helpful. It's fun to go around the house and find ways to lower your watts - make it a family activity!
Now that we've made our TV use less electricity, let's do the same with our light bulbs.
LED bulbs are amazing at giving you the light you need for significantly less energy cost. The old fashioned bulbs are called Incandescent bulbs but the problem with them is that they use alot of electricity by generating heat. They can make a room feel hot, during the summer, which may make you reach for the AC. Now you'll be wasting even more electricity trying to cool the room back down. LED bulbs are designed to give you light without the heat. Because of this, they use way less electricity.
LED bulbs make Light.
Incandescent bulbs make Heat.
Since we love Grandma so much, lets change out the bulbs in her favorite lamp to save her some money. Right now it's using three 75 watt Incandescent bulbs. So that means when the lamp is on it's using 225 watts of electricity - that's a lot!
Let's put in three 8 watt LED bulbs, this will get the lamp down to 24 watts.
That's a huge improvment, but I think we can go even lower. Lets put in three 5 watt LED bulbs, this will get the lamp down to 15 watts!
This is great. Plenty of light for Grandma to do her crossword puzzles and we're only using one fifteenth the amount of electricity that we were before. Let's find out her other favorite lamps and change those too!
It's easy to find which light bulbs are the biggest energy hogs in your house. Look on the top or side of the bulb and it should say how many watts the bulb is. Put your most energy efficient bulbs in the lights you use most.
When picking out your new LED bulbs, it's easy to get a headache from the choices. Plastic bulbs, glass bulbs, clear bulbs, white bulbs. White glass LED's are a good choice.
Look for the bulbs Light Appearance because it has a huge impact on the vibe of your home. Ignore all the marketing words on the box and look for a Number that tells you exactly what you're getting. If it says the Light Appearance is 2700K this means you'll get a nice warm lighting that's great for homes. This is my absolute favorite because I feel so much more relaxed and at ease in this lighting. If the Light Appearance is 3000K this will be more white and less yellowish than a 2700K bulb. If the Light Appearance is 5000K that means it'll give you a Daylight type of light. I've found that Daylight bulbs can put me on edge and mess with my sleep cycles. If you think about it, it makes sense though. At night time do I really want a light that's telling my body it's day time? That's why it's important to think about what time of day the bulb will be running. While a hospital may go with 5000K, most homes would want the chill vibes of 2700K.
The box will also say how many Lumens the bulb is. This is just a Number that tells you how Bright the bulb is. For example, those three 75 watt bulbs from Grandma's lamp were rated at 1100 Lumens each. Then we put in the three 8 watt LED bulbs which were 800 Lumens each. Finally we put in the three 5 watt LED bulbs which were 450 Lumens each. You want to think about where the bulb is located and how much brightness you need. You don't want a bulb that's too bright or you'll be wasting electricity. So, you want to use the lowest lumens you can but still get the brightness you need.
Finally, it's a good idea to buy bulbs that have the little Energy Star logo somewhere on the box. This just means the bulb has been tested by Energy Star to perform up to standards.
Next, I plug in a Space Heater and try it's 3 Heat Settings. Look how many watts this hog uses...
Running the heater on Low uses about half as many watts as it does on High. So, It'll cost about half as much money to run. That's about what you'll find on most space heaters. The simple truth is that it takes alot of electricity to generate heat. So, it helps to live in a smaller place or use a space heater to heat just the room you hang out in. Measuring it with our energy use meter was a good step though since hopefully now we'll be more aware of how many watts it's using every time we turn it on.
Appreciating how a blanket simply traps in body heat can help you discover ways to trap the heat inside your home. Imagine a cold winter night and all you have is a bed sheet on top of you - the sheet won't trap in much body heat and you'll be cold all night. But if Grandma comes in and tucks you in, she'll layer a bunch of big comfy blankets on you. You're still producing the same amount of body heat, but now this heat is being trapped under a big mound of blankets - keeping you warm all night. It's cool to think that this small amount of body heat, trapped under your blanket buritto, is enough to keep you warm. This shows how a little heat can go a long way if it's well insulated - and the same thing's true inside your home!
Which surfaces in your home are like that thin bed sheet and which are like the thick blankets? Maybe there's a combination of both. For example, your floor, walls and ceiling could be great at keeping the heat in, but maybe your windows are thin and letting the heat escape.
This Air Conditioner is using 640 watts while it's blowing cold air, and about one twelfth that amount when it's set to fan only mode. Notice how it still uses electricity even when it's turned off. Try unplugging it completely during the months you don't use it.
Before reaching for the AC, see if there are ways to reduce the heat buildup in the first place. If the sun shines in your home, stick something up to block it. Drapes, blinds, potted plants - whatever you can think of to block the sun from shining in. An awning is like a hat for your window, it'll block the sun but still let you look out. Some people will use an adjustable awning to block the sun during summer, but then retract their awning during winter so the sun sunshines in.
You should also minimize electronic heat. We talked about how Incandescent bulbs produce a lot of heat, so during the summer it's extra important to only use LED bulbs. Reducing your TV's Backlight as we talked about will also reduce the amount of heat your TV makes. Put your hand on top of your electronics, as they run, to see how hot they get. For example, the sides of my fridge get hot while it's running so I know it's contributing to making my home hotter. I can't get rid of my fridge, but you may find things that are adding heat to your home that could be unplugged or relocated.
A fan near a window uses way less watts than an AC...
The electronics we've looked at (Alarm Clocks, TV's, Lights, Heaters, AC's, Fans) are all things that people typically leave on for long periods of time. Our theme has been to reduce the number of watts these things use to reduce our electricity bill. You should also know that there are some things that use a high number of watts but don't really use up much electricity. For example, a toaster may use 900 watts but you only run the thing for 3 minutes long, so it wont use much electricity. Same thing with a microwave, it might be using 1300 watts while it's running but since a microwave only runs for a few minutes here and there, this wont be using much electricity. So these things aren't energy hogs, unless of course you like to toast your bread for 10 hours straight!
Also, throughout our website we say How long will it run on $1 of electricity? We think this is a great way to sum up how much electricity something uses and to easily compare different electronic devices to one another. What you should know about this, is that utility prices vary depending upon where you live. So although this is a great way for everyone to get an idea of how much money something will cost to run, it may not exactly match what you'll pay. The average price in the United States for electricity is 12 cents per kilowatt hour and this is the number we use to calculate How long something will run on $1 of electricity. You may pay more for your electricity, or less, depending upon what State you live in. Look on your utility bill to see how many cents per kilowatt hour you pay.
Congrats!
You're a watt pro! Try going around your house and measuring how many watts your own electronics use then write them all down. If everyone were taught these basic concepts we believe the world's energy consumption could be reduced significantly. So, get on out there and help spread the knowlege!