Unplugged
/When you get your electric bill each month, you're being charged for the number of
you consume. One kWh (one kilowatt consumed over the course of one hour) on average in the U.S. costs roughly 10 cents, and is equal to about two pounds of greenhouse gases. A 1,000-watt appliance uses one kWh every 60 minutes. Here are some wattages of common appliances:
Aquarium = 50–1210
Clock radio = 10
Coffee maker = 900–1200
Clothes washer = 350–500
Clothes dryer = 1800–5000
Dishwasher = 1200–2400 (using the drying feature greatly increases energy consumption)
Dehumidifier = 785
Electric blanket- Single/Double = 60 / 100
Fans: Ceiling = 65–175; Window = 55–250; Furnace = 750; Whole house = 240–750
Hair dryer = 1200–1875
Heater (portable) = 750–1500
Clothes iron = 1000–1800
Microwave oven = 750–1100
Personal computer: CPU awake/asleep = 120/30 or less; Monitor awake/asleep = 150/30 or less; Laptop = 50
Radio (stereo) = 70–400
Refrigerator (frost-free, 16 cubic feet) = 725
Televisions (color): 19" = 65–110; 27" = 113; 36" = 133; 53"-61" Projection = 170; Flat screen = 120
Toaster = 800–1400
Toaster oven = 1225
VCR/DVD = 17–21 / 20–25
Vacuum cleaner = 1000–1440
Water heater (40 gallon) = 4500–5500
Water pump (deep well) = 250–1100
Water bed (with heater, no cover) = 120–380
To determine specifics for the appliances in your home, you may want to invest in a
. Simply plug your device into the Kill a Watt and you can see right there how much energy is being used.
But besides opting to use appliances requiring fewer kWh, actually unplugging items you're not using can save you (and the Earth) a bundle.
That's right—even while off, some appliances continue drawing energy from electric outlets. As much as 15 percent of your annual electric bills come from dormant items left plugged into sockets. Check out this data:
iPod docking station = 6.7 watts when playing music, 6.3 when the ipod was removed.
Older 32" TV = 80 watts on, 1.2 off
19" Plasma TV = 41 on, 1.6 off
32" LCD TV = 15 on, 0.1 off
DVD/VCR = 20.3 on, 19.8 off
wii = 17.5 on, 1.8 off
Desktop computer = 84.7 on, 16.3 off
And this: Only 5 percent of the power drawn by a
is used to charge the phone. The other 95 percent is wasted when it is left plugged into the wall. Most appliances, in fact, do draw some standby current. An easy way to determine which dormant items pull and which don't is to wander through your home looking for LED lights. Things like lamps, portable fans, and many old-school radios don't draw energy while off. But alarm clocks, most cell chargers, microwaves, electric toothbrushes, and stereos do. And anything that hums or gets the slightest bit warm even while off is drawing power.
Every watt of standby power will amount to a kWh in 1,000 hours, costing you around 10 cents. Forty watts of standby power averages a kWh per day—costing you roughly $3 a month. That adds up fast—especially nowadays, when it seems everyone has at least one computer, a stereo, iPod dock, flatscreen, DVD player, and electric shaver and toothbrush.
Here's the cost of keeping your appliances plugged in for one year:
(TV smaller than 40 inches) Plasma TV, $48.25
TV accessories, Digital video recorder/TIVO $39.71
Digital cable, $26.15. Computers, Desktop, $27.90
Computer accessories, CRT computer monitor, $8.97
Modem, $5.47 [from Real Simple Magazine the April 2008 ]
The International Energy Agency has a "
", encouraging countries to adopt a maximum of 1 watt of standby power on all devices. Items in the U.S. marked "
" are designed to use less than 3/4 watt when not on.
You can lower your energy consumption by plugging most of your electronics into a power strip and turning the strip off when not in use. Doing so will save you the energy equivalent of a 100-watt light bulb left on 24/7. Or better yet, maintain an "unplugged" policy with items like televisions, printers, phone chargers, and microwaves. After a few days of practice, we swear it'll become second nature.
