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Google
picks the ads, not me. You found it. If you have a question about saving electricity, or how much electricity something uses, this is the place. I cover pretty much everything. And I've put lots of effort into making the information truly useful: I supply a ton of actual numbers, some calculators to help figure the usage for your own situation, and explanations about what works and why in plain English. I've always hated how-to guides thet skimp on the goods: sometimes a topic is just as mysterious after you've read a guide. I vowed that this guide would not be one of those.For starters, I explain exactly what a kilowatt hour is and how much you pay for one. I then show you how to calculate exactly how much electricity your household appliances use, so you know which items are guzzling the most juice (and which ones are the best targets for savings). You'll also learn exactly how to read your electric meter, if you like. (Find that on any other website.) Finally, I've answered countless questions from readers about saving electricity. If you have a question, it's probably answered here already. Saving electricity doesn't just save money, it also saves energy, which means less pollution. This might be surprising, because you don't see or smell any pollution when you turn on the lights, unlike when you fire up your car. But the pollution is there—it just happens at the power plant instead of on-site. Most electricity is generated by burning coal and other fossil fuels. Every time you turn on the lights, you create a little pollution. (See the sidebar.) In fact, the average home pollutes more than the average car! (See my Carbon Footprint Calculator for the numbers.) So saving electricity doesn't just put money in your pocket, it helps keep the air and water clean, too. But don't just take my word for it. The legendary James Hansen, one of the first scientists to warn about global warming way back in the 80s, recently said that the real key to preventing climate change is reducing home energy use. That's because, as he says, we can't stop the oil from being burned for transport, since if we don't use it, another country will. But we can certainly stop burning our own country's coal. And the quickest way to reduce coal emissions by 50%, is to reduce our electricity consumption by 50%. (more on climate change) Note also that as the age of oil is coming to a close (we've already used more than half of the oil that exists on the planet), our energy appetite puts more pressure for utilities to build dangerous nuclear power plants. Thinking about going solar? Solar is indeed now affordable in most cases, and is often cheaper than grid energy. My concern about this is that, just like with cars, people are looking for an alternative fuel source so they can continue blissfully using ridiculous amounts of energy. A better approach is for us to just stop using such a ridiculous amount of energy in the first place! In reality, conservation is pretty easy; the problem is that most people don't want to do it. That's why people buy gass-guzzlers in droves. When I go to the gym, I see that almost everyone has turned on the little TV attached to the treadmill or exercycle, never turning them off when they're finished. That's an easy way to see why we've got a problem. If most people won't do an easy thing, like turning off a TV when they're not using it, how can we expect them to do things that actually require a tiny amount of effort? But you're here, you're reading this, so you're the kind of person willing to make some modest changes, if not for the environment, then at least to save some money. Either way, good for you! If you want to ave energy, then there's no better place to find out about it than here. And the time is right, too. U.S. taxpayers can now get a whopping 30% tax credit for installing things like heat pumps and solar energy systems. And if you really want to lessen your carbon footprint, you'll also want to look into eating less meat and driving less. I hope you find this website useful. Happy savings! -- Michael Bluejay
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| Easy Strategies | ||
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Strategy |
Up front cost | Savings per year |
|
(1) Use space heaters to heat only the rooms you're in (rather than a central system that heats the whole house), and turning off the heat when you're not home. |
$80 | $1023 |
| (2) Use ceiling fans instead of the air conditioner | $100 if you don't already have ceiling fans |
$438 |
| (3) Turn off lights you're not using | $0 | $274 |
| (4) Use a clothesline or a laundry rack instead of a dryer | $20 | $196 |
| (5) Sleep your computer when you're not using it | $0 | $178 |
| (6) Wash laundry in cold water instead of hot or warm | none | $152 |
| (7) Turn off a single 100-watt light bulb, from running constantly | $0 | $131 |
| (8) Replace ten 60-watt light bulbs with compact fluorescents | $32 | $123 |
| Total | $232 once |
$2515 every year |
| Aggressive Strategies | ||
| (9) Replace top-loading washer with front-loading washer | $500 | $99 |
| (10) Replace 1992 fridge with newer, Energy Star model | $440 |
$75 |
| Total | $940 once |
$174 every year |
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Assumptions: (Calculations are always only
as good as the assumptions. See how
to misquote this website.) |
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�� Next: How much electricity costs ��
This chart shows where the U.S. gets its electricity. Note
that most of it was from burning coal. (Source:
Department
of Energy)
How much pollution?
Here's a calculator which will show you how
much pollution is created from your electrical use. The
typical home accounts for more pollution than the typical car.
(source)
More on energy production
On a separate page we have info about how
much fuel is required to produce electricity.
|
Troubleshooting Home Electricity |
| Fan Mail & Success Stories |
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I love your site, I have cut my oil bill in half by
using space heaters which has really saved me money as a
direct result of your advice. -
Andrew G.
I studied your site after deciding that I was determined to put an end to paying for (and wasting) lots of electricity. I bought a kilowatt meter to measure my usage. In the first month I dropped my from 578 kWh avg. to 197 kWh. This past month after replacing my 1980's fridge with a new one I was able to get down to 150 kilowatt-hours, and that includes my home office. My electric company lets you look at and compare the past 14 months worth of usage and bills online. I saved $50 this past month compared to last year and plan on saving more than $1000 for the year over 2004. Our rates are about 14 cents for delivery and usage not including the $7.36 customer charge, so this has made a big impact. So I just wanted express a quick 'thank you' for your site. I appreciate the depth of information and the ability to reference many other sites. best regards, Aaron Patt
I'm just dropping a quick note to thank your for your amazing electricity subsite. It's outstanding. I've been working to improve my finances for a while, and every little bit helps. I just posted about your Saving Electricity site on my site (Get Rich Slowly). I hope to steer others to the information you've provided. -- J.D. Roth, Get Rich Slowly
Great web site. Thank you for you sharing your
knowledge. (Saved me from the surge
suppression scam.) --
Liz McLean |
 All advice is given in good faith. We're not responsible for any errors or omissions. Electricity can kill you; if you're not competent to work on your electrical wiring then hire a professional to do it. |
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