Many products on the market these days can monitor your electricity consumption and save money on your power bills. The tough question is which one will work the best for you. While monitors do not save energy, they give you the knowledge of what you are using and what appliances are wasting electricity while turned off. When looking at devices that measure the electricity (electricity monitors) there are three main types: whole house meters, circuit meters, and plug meters. Any way you go, the first step in saving energy is finding out what you are spending and where you are spending it. Knowledge is power and knowledge is savings.
When deciding on which type of electricity monitor to use you should first determine what you want to focus on. If you are just looking at overall energy costs then a whole house meter is the smart choice. If you are renovating or are renting a space with a low number of circuits then a circuit meter will work best. If you are interested in saving money on your energy bill by finding what appliances are wasting the most or trying to determine if it is cost effective to replace an older appliance then a plug meter is the type of monitor you are looking for.
Whole house meters measure just what the name implies, the power flowing into the entire house. The electricity is typically measured at the utility meter. Circuit meters measure the power flowing through a single circuit, such as a kitchen or office, and is measured at the electrical panel. Plug meters plug into a wall socket and measure the power flowing through a single plug. Each type of electricity monitors has benefits and limitations. Depending on your goals and needs, you probably will only need one type of monitor.
More discussion of each type of electricity monitor in the next post. Up next: Whole House Meters.
Summer is finally over. The heat and humidity has left and the chill of winter has not gotten here yet. This is the perfect time to take a look at where you can save energy.
Without having heating or cooling using up a large part of your power bill it is easier to see which appliances are wasting most of your electricity. There are a lot of appliances that use power even when turned off so there are plenty of opportunities to save a little money here and there. The hard part is figuring out where to find the savings, that is if you do not have a electricity monitor like a Kill-A-Watt EZ or a Watts Up? PRO. Both are great gadgets to see how much electricity your electronics are using.
ENERGY STAR’s website states that older refrigerators, like those use as a second one located in the basement or garage, use more than twice the amount of electricity to run than new ENERGY STAR rated models do. Their cost calculator estimates my fridge (about 20 cubic feet and 20 years old) uses $150 each year!
Taking a look at the actual usage, by plugging it into a Watts Up? PRO power analyzer showed this was not quite the case. The fridge used a wide range of power, from as high as 750 watts after loading it from a shopping trip to as low as 5 watts to maintain an already cooled fridge. The average electricity usage was about 100 watts. After monitoring the usage for a week my model only used 17.5 kwh, and with electricity costing an average of $0.115 per kwh that comes out to $2.01. Using this as a baseline, my model comes in a just over $104 each year. This means it would take 8-10 years for a new ENERGY STAR refrigerator to pay for itself with the energy savings.
Using my Kill-A-Watt EZ I have taken a closer look at most of my electronic devices. Looking for what is now called “vampire” device, any electronic that continues to draw/drain electricity even while it is “turned off.” This includes my television, computer, radio, speakers, and kitchen appliances.
Obviously cooking anything will require a lot of energy to produce the heat needed but some of my appliances draw electricity even while not in use. The two biggest culprits are the microwave and toaster oven. I focused on the microwave since the toaster oven is easy to unplug while not in use.
The microwave constantly draws 7 watts while not in use because of the clock display. Opening the door, and thus turning on the light, brings the electricity consumption to about 17 watts. When the microwave is in use at full power it draws 1500 to 1700 watts as it cooks.
Because the plug for the microwave is hidden in the cabinet above the range, and behind an assortment of pans and dishes, it is not easy to unplug it after every use. The solution is to use an outlet that has switch or a surge protector with a wired switch that will turn it on and off.
When looking at the energy usage of a computer you might not capture the real operating costs. Looking at a desktop computer there are a few components/accessories that are often overlooked. In addition to the CPU there is the monitor and speakers but there is also the wireless router and cable modem that also draw power and are necessary for everyday usage of your computer.
In my home we have a Comcast telephony modem and wireless G router. Both the router and modem drew on average about 5.5 watts. This means both are using almost 4 kilowatt hours per month (or $0.08 each). The router maintained a constant 5.5 watts with very little variance, while the modem had a slightly larger range going from 5.3 to 8.2 watts.
