saving electicity?

Question

What are the appliances in my home that use the most electricity and how can I cut down??? My electric bill has been through the roof lately and I'm trying to figure out how to save.

Answer 1

If you have electric heat or hot water, those use the most electricity. Cut back the temps to save $$$.

If you don't have electric heat or hot water, your refrigerator is probably the next most voracious appetite in your home. Make sure the seals are in good condition and keep it defrosted.

A 100 watt light left burning 24/7 will use about $70 worth of electricity in a year at 8 cents a kilowatt hour. Replace it with a 27 watt fluorescent for the same light and cut the cost to about $17.50 per year. If the bulb costs $8.00, it will pay for itself in about 2 months.

A computer can easily eat up $150.00 a year if left running all the time. Enable the power saving features and slash that by half or more.

Most TVs, cable boxes, and home entertainment gear draw some current even when turned off. Unplug them wnen not in use and save about $25.00 per year on each one. But remember that presets may be lost if you do that.

If you have a clothes dryer, make sure you clean the lint trap after every load and you'll save $25.00 - $100.00 a year if it's electric. Use the moisture sensor option if it has one and save another $50.00 - $200.00 a year vs the timed dry setting.

Change the filters on your heating system monthly. Keep the AC condenser unit free of grass clippings, dirt and vegetation. Use fans and ceiling fans instead of AC on milder days. In the spring and fall when it gets warm during the day but cooler at night, open the windows and use a fan at night to cool the house down. Close curtains during the day to minimize heat gain.

Turn down the thermostat at night and when your home is unoccupied. An auto setback thermostat will pay for itself in a month or two and can save several hundred a year in unnecessary heating and cooling costs.

And of course, turn off unneeded lights if you're leaving the room for more than 2 minutes.

Answer 2

I have photovoltics and believe me it takes almost 40 years of use to pay back in Arkansas USA. Not worth the money if you are not paying somewhere around 19 cents USD per KWH. Only thing mine will help on is when the power goes out it keeps the batteries charged and auto switches to the batteries and the power stays on.

The first thing I did was change out the Lights. In every room of your house you have 60 and 100 watt lights. You need to change them to compact florescent bulbs. The little pig tale bulbs. They cost a little to buy them but save a lot of money. In my master bathroom I have a 6 light fixure which normally has 60 watt bulbs in it. Every time anyone goes in there it is turned on. If normally runs for a couple hours every morning and then some at night. So take 6 times 60 watts for say 4 hours a day. This alone is 960 watt hours or almost a kill-a-watt per day. If you changed the bulbs out you can get the same amount of light for about 8 watts per bulb. so 6 times 8 watts for 4 hours a day would be 192 watt hours. I am sure you have other lights in your house and the porch light too.

Next thing people don't know is that your TV, VCR, DVD or stereo, anything with a remote control uses power even when shut off. I have a Kil-a-watt meter (get on one ebay pretty cheap) and have tested my computer and most everything in my home and found that just setting ther turned off my TV computer and all the other junk in my living room uses 65 watts not turned on. A power strip will allow you to switch off the power to them when not used. Like when you go to work and school or sleep at night. If you have an electric water heater turn it down to 120 deg and put on water saver shower heads. Remember it is cheaper to use cold water when cooking and in your dishwasher then to let that water heater heat 30 to 50 gallons up every time you want a cup of instent coffee.

Just doing the stuff above I have cut about 30 dollars a month off my bill. More depending on the time of year.

And shut off the heater and air vents in rooms that are not being used and shut the door to that room. No need to heat or cool rooms there is no one in. Put on storm windows and doors. Helps a lot.

Answer 3

Incadescent lights left on use a lot of energy, switch to compact flourescent bulbs-cost more but the real cost of light bulbs is the energy use.
Most any electronic device nowadays pulls electricity all of the time--TV, stereo, etc.
Drying clothes in an electric dryer burns a lot--use lower heat settings, and dry them longer. The cost to tumble the clothes and run the blower is much less than having the heating elements on.
If your refrigerator is over 10 or 15 years old, it can consume as much as 35% of your household electric use.
If you have an electric hot water heater, and teenagers, you are simply out of luck on that energy hog.
With winter coming--look at your weatherstripping on your doors and replace if you have air leakage. By a $3 caulk gun and some tubes of siliconized acrylic latex caulk, and seal up holes around windows, doors, or anywhere else, such as around pipes under your sinks. Air leakage is the greatest cause of heat and cooling loss & expense. Most homes when tested with a blower door, a device to determine air infiltration, will test out before any sealing with the equivalent of a 4 x 4 foot hole in the wall! Every little crack and hole does add up.
Also check your ceiling insulation. After air infltration sealing, insulation is the next best thing to save energy year around. Check www.energystar.org and you can find out your zone and the recommended insulation levels for your home. Insulation, like air sealing, pays for itself quickly.

Answer 4

look into photovoltaic electric generation
for a reasonable price you can lock in the cost of your electric use for 25 years.
a well planned system can relieve you of the ever increasing energy costs and free up all the money you would have spent on electricity do other things. The typical payback for your investment is 5-7 years. With a 25 year warranty on the panels, that means yu will have no electric bill for 18-20 years.
For now get rid of old refrigeraters, or freezers you are running.Pool equipment also uses much electricity.


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Answer 5

1. Always turn fans, lights,TV, and anything else including faucets off when you are not using them.
2. If you read at night with a night-light, turn it off when you are done.
Water Bonuses:
1. Always take showers, not bathes. They take more water.
2. You do not need to shower more than once a day.
3.Wen you are waiting for the shower to get hot, put an empty trash can or bucket under the faucet till it's warm. When it is, take the bucket and water some plants. Then take your shower.

Hope it helps and good luck!

Answer 6

I had a freezer that I really din't need to use so I shut it off and cleaned it up, shut off lights when not using them, don't run the tv all day whether watching or not. I just shut off everything that I didn't need. The past two years with rates rising I have lowered my monthly expense. I have probably lowered it to the point that I can't go any lower, but it has saved me from 25.00 to 50.00 a month in the meantime. I also cut fans running, furnace time, etc.

Answer 7

Any device that creates heat uses more electricity. The higher the wattage, the more electricity utilized.

Answer 8

turn off lights it works