Cutting back on monthly utilities like cable, phone and electric is often a task that people explore when trying to save money on utility bills . Electricity is one expense that seems easy to control through energy conservation, but figuring out exactly how to get energy savings can be confusing.
Vampire Power
One electricity expense that gets talked about often is “vampire power” – the energy that some appliances continue to use, even when they are turned to the “off” position. Appliances and gadgets that suck up power include:
- Chargers used for cell phones, laptops and other electronic devices that supply a charge, even when nothing is plugged into them
- Devices that are in stand-by mode all the time, like televisions
- Appliances like stoves and microwaves with clocks or other display screens that need continuous power.
Vampire power only accounts for about 5% of household usage. Still, if the monthly electric bill is $100 a month, consumers can save $60 a year by killing vampire power. Though that may not seem like a significant savings, it doesn’t take much physical energy and inconvenience to just turn things off.
One way to combat this leaking power is simply to unplug devices and appliances that suck up energy. Another is to put them on a power strip, which makes it easier to cut off standby power to several devices at once. How much annoyance and inconvenience this will cause depends on the device. For example, the microwave may take a few minutes to sync up, digital clocks may need to be reset, and the TV may not list current programming information until it syncs with the cable company.
Office Equipment
Computers, monitors and peripherals also use a lot of electricity, sometimes wastefully. Many people leave their computers on all the time, thanks to a few old myths. One of them is that turning on a computer or monitor uses more power than leaving it on, which is not true. Another myth is that turning computers off and on is hard on the system and the hard drive.
In older computers, regular rebooting could indeed cause the hard drives to wear out, but this isn’t a worry in modern systems. Another untrue belief is that screen savers save energy. Leaving a monitor on with a screen saver running actually can use over 100 watts of power. Screen savers, particularly those with 3-D or other intensive graphics can also consume PC memory. Even when turned off, computers and monitors use some power for standby features, but it’s much smaller than leaving them on. To cut out this power completely, unplug the machines or put them on a power switch.
Using the hibernate feature is another way to save power, but only if the computer doesn’t need to be accessed remotely; it’s impossible to “wake up” a sleeping computer through a standard Windows remote session.
Washers and dryers
Washing machines and dryers are some of the biggest energy consuming appliances in a home. Families who do many loads of laundry in a week can reach significant energy savings by doing fewer loads or using an outdoor clothesline or an indoor drying rack.
Appliances
Replacing old appliances with Energy Star appliances is one way to save money on electricity. Energy star appliances are more efficient and meet Department of Energy and EPA guidelines. The energy star program offers resources for purchasing efficient homes and making improvements that will help to conserve electricity.
To find out how much power is really being used by an appliance, try a Kill-a-Watt to gauge how much power devices are using. A comprehensive list of standby power used can also help to determine how much energy individual components use. http://standby.lbl.gov/summary-table.html
There are many changes, both large and small, that can be made to conserve energy and save money on electricity. Even small savings can add up over the course of a year or more.
More tips to save money on electricity can be found on How to Save Electricity to Save the Environment, How to Save Money on Utility Bills and How to Save Electricity in the Kitchen.
Beth Lumadue - I've always enjoyed the creative side of life , especially crafting, writing and decorating. After graduating from Temple University with ...
