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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.
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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
make the
largest environmental impact.
They are also
the items that are usually the
oldest in a
home, and the older an item is,
the greater
chance that it is an energy hog!
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Main
Culprits (Appliance types that typically use the most energy!)
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Central Air Conditioning/Furnace
Units
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Televisions
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TV/DVD/VCR Combo
Units
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Refrigerators
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Electric Clothes Dryers
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Dishwashers
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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!
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This DVD player uses 10 watts (10W)
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This refrigerator uses 7.74
amps at 115 volts. Multiply 7.74
and 115 and you get 890 watts
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Other
Appliances and Electronics (Appliance types that typically use a bit less
energy)
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Washing Machines
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Toasters
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DVD Players
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VCRs
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