ф Should You Replace Your Old Appliances & Electronics?

 

 

If you have appliances or electronics that are more than a few years old, chances are they are energy hogs.  Technology has caused appliances and electronics to become smaller and much more energy efficient than ever before.

 

The items that tend

to use the most energy in a home

are listed below

under Main Culprits.  These are the items that you should think about replacing first, because this is

where you will get

the biggest energy savings and the largest

environmental

impact.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Main Culprits (Appliance types that typically use the most energy!)

·        Central Air Conditioning/Furnace Units

·        Televisions

·        TV/DVD/VCR Combo Units

·        Refrigerators

·        Electric Clothes Dryers

·        Dishwashers

·        Microwaves

 

To determine the efficiency (or lack thereof) of any appliance, simply look on the back or the inside of the item for a metal or metallic looking tag that shows the wattage.   Below are a couple of examples.  Many items will not display the actual wattage, but they will show the voltage and the amperage.  If you multiply Volts times Amps, you get Watts!

 

This DVD player uses 10 watts (10W)

This refrigerator uses 7.74 amps at 115 volts.  Multiply 7.74 and 115 and you get 890 watts

 

Once you know the wattage of the unit, then you know how much energy the appliance or electronic device uses during one hour of operation.  If the appliance is rated at 100W, then when it is operating for one hour, it uses 100 watts.  If it is operating for 2 hours, then it uses 200 watts and so on.

 

So in the example above, the DVD player only uses 10 watts per hour, and let’s say you only use it 3 hours per day.  That’s 30 watts per day.  On the other hand, the refrigerator uses 890 watts per hour, and it cycles off and on all day – let’s guesstimate that it actually runs for about 6-8 hours/day (we’re just trying to get a ballpark figure).  Even at only 6 hours that’s 890 x 6 = 5340 watts per day (5.34 kilowatts)!!!  I would say if you’re looking for which item to replace to save the most energy, the refrigerator is your best bet.

 

 

 

The next step is researching new appliances to see how much they cost and how much energy savings a new appliance will be able to give you.  In other words will a new appliance run on substantially less power (lower wattage) than your old appliance?  This is where we come in!  Just check our listings of appliances to see the operating wattage and a ballpark cost for most of the major appliances available today.  If you find that there are several refrigerators that meet your needs and run on half the wattage, then you stand to save a huge amount of energy by replacing your refrigerator.  If you find that all of the refrigerators available run on just about the same wattage as your existing refrigerator, then you know that it’s not worth your hard earned money to replace your refrigerator.

 

 

Once you’ve replaced the real energy hogs in your home, then you can begin to focus on the smaller items that use less energy, such as the items listed under Other Appliances and Electronics below.  Replacing one of these probably won’t save you a tremendous amount of energy, but replacing several can add up to real savings and environmental impact, so don’t disregard these items.

 

 

 

Other Appliances and Electronics (Appliance types that typically use a bit less energy)

·        Washing Machines

·        Toasters

·        DVD Players

·        VCRs

 

 

 

 


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