| Item | KWH/24 hours |
Cost/month
|
Cost/year |
| Toaster with display |
0.02
|
$0.07
|
$0.87
|
| Outlet only |
0.03
|
$0.11
|
$1.30
|
| Lamp-off, plugged in |
0.03
|
$0.11
|
$1.30
|
| Coffee pot with display |
0.04
|
$0.14
|
$1.79
|
| Computer Monitor |
0.36
|
$1.30
|
$15.55
|
Laptop-large
|
0.47
|
$1.70
|
$20.30
|
As you can see, the lamp (turned off), the toaster with a digital display, and the Kill-a-Watt device itself all consumed negligible amounts of electricity--0.02-0.03 KWH/24 hours. I'm assuming that that may be in the margin of error of measurement, but I don't know for sure. The coffee pot display only consumed a little more with 0.04 KWH/24 hours. (None of the above items were in use during the measurement. They were just plugged in.) However, the monitor and laptop did use noticeable amounts of electricity although a lot less than I thought they would. I didn't measure only when they were turned off, but all of their use during a 24 hour period. The monitor is in use quite a bit, but does go into a power saving mode at night. The laptop is from Ward's work and is quite large and old. I'm sure that many newer ones and certainly tablets use less electricity than this one. However, that's what we had. Even with their heavier usage, the monitor and laptop consumed less that 1 KWH in a 24 hour period.
I then translated this usage into what it meant financially and that was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I assumed that I would just be able to read the charge for a KWH off of my electric bill, but it's not so simple. Besides that number, you also have to add in the additional costs that you pay every month. I ended up with $0.12/KWH as a reasonable estimate (only about half of that number is actual electric use). Rates vary across the country, so you may be paying more or less for your electricity. What I saw was that even if I leave all of these objects plugged in for a year, they're not going to break the bank.
I had a lot more measurements planned, but Theo took the device back with him one weekend. He wanted to measure various things in his apartment trying to see if he can cut his budget any more--mostly if there is a more efficient way to cool things. When I get it back, next up will be the TV. It's an Energy Star one and is supposed to only cost $6.00/year to operate (plugged in all of the time, 5 hours/day on.) I'm interested in that one in particular because it is supposed to be one of the bad offenders of drawing phantom power but the $6/year doesn't suggest that. We'll see.
Until next time...
More general reading and tips on cutting back on your electricity use:
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/everyday-tech/vampire-power3.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/komando/2012/10/26/komando-electric-bills/1649195/
https://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=about.vampires
Very interesting! I don't have the patience to check all these things out so I'm grateful to people like you who do. We are pretty good at turning our computer completely off at night but I've gotten lazy about the tv. Those are probably the 2 biggest offenders we have. We typically leave our toaster and coffeepot unplugged (we don't use them daily) but I think plugging my lamps in on a daily basis would make me cranky. :)
ReplyDeleteWe don't have any small kitchen appliances plugged in regularly either--just when we use them. However, we don't unplug our TV or computer and accessories every night. Even though they are plugged into a couple of power strips, the plugs are very difficult to reach. That's one reason all of them haven't been tested yet. However, it's on our list of things to do to fix all of the plugs in this area. So when Theo brings the gadget back, I'll probably do some measuring along with our reconfiguring.
DeleteI couldn't see myself unplugging lamps either, mostly because outlets are placed low on the wall and I'd have to bend over a lot! But unplugging other items could be enough of a money saver for some folks to mean being able to pick up an extra item or two at the grocery store every month. In some cases, that might really matter.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the work, live and learn.
For me, one of the take-aways from this experiment was that I don't need to worry about unplugging the lamp when it's not in use. It would take an entire year of it being unplugged before I had saved enough to treat myself to something like a candy bar--and I don't think my sweet tooth can wait that long. :)
DeleteInteresting numbers. They mostly lead me to think that it's just not worthwhile to unplug most things. I'm not going to unplug my toaster once a day (or even once a week) to save a dollar or two per year. Might be worth it for the larger items like the monitor, but they can be set to turn themselves off or to power saver.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if you should add in the extra charges on your bill when figuring out the cost. At least with my bill, these items are charged per day or month that you have power, and have nothing to do with usage. So unplugging your toaster or computer at night will have no effect of them, so it seems unfair to add them to the price per kwh saved by unplugging.
Of course, this would make the cost even less, and make it even less worthwhile to unplug anything.
Although, I just checked my bill, and I'm being charged 13 cents per kwh, before service, etc charges, so your adjusted numbers are pretty close to my base ones.
DeleteThe first time I calculated the costs I used the KWH usage cost only. That was 0.07/KWH. The usage costs came out really low when I did that. Then I did some more reading, and they said to be really fair that you need to use the additional charges. But you make a good point about most of them not going up and down with usage. After much teeth gnashing, I used $0.12/KWH that was recommended by a local publication.
DeleteMy husband and I have had many discussions about whether it is worth it, to unplug everything. That's why I was excited to try this--so I could put some numbers with our ideas. Not to be negative, but I find that most environmental issues are very emotional for most people and you don't always get unbiased reporting or ideas when they are discussed. And after one idea or "fact" gets published it gets reprinted and reprinted by others whether or not it is telling the whole story. That's another reason that I wanted to see things for myself. Many reports are for the average American and I don't think we are the average American. I think we have fewer electronic devices that average, but who knows what the other numbers will tell me when my son brings the Kill-a-Watt back.
Very interesting. CatMan actually wrote the software for one of Kill-a-Watt's competitors, so he and I have had many discussions about vampire power - which pretty much convinced me that in most cases it really wasn't something that was worth worrying about.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I have heard though, is that CableTV DVR's and the like eat a TON of power. They're basically like computers that are on and running 24/7. I think I heard somewhere that they rival refrigerators in their energy use! Neither of us have one of those, so we've never tested it, but I'd be curious to know if that's true or not.
Of course, there are other reasons to unplug devices. I have a bit of a fear of toasters since on of my high school friend's homes burnt to the ground from a fire caused when a toaster oven shorted out - when it was just sitting on the counter top plugged in but not turned on. I suppose it could happen with any appliance, but I do have to admit that toasters still make me nervous!
I will definitely have a phase 2 to this when I get the device back.
DeleteI know there are millions, probably billions of toasters out there, but I too know someone whose house burned down from a plugged in toaster. Now that I think about it, maybe it was a coffee pot--but same idea. That's not the reason that our toaster and coffee pot aren't plugged in regularly, but you've got me thinking.
interesting in what and where you can save. Somewhere on the web i read that a DVR eats around 5 dollars electricity a month. We do our best here to turn of lights when not needed, switched over to LED`s. Have powerstrips for entertaimentcenters. To me it has become a game to get my utility bill lower. Didn't know that lights that were turned of still use power.
DeleteIf you want to get ideas about tweaking every last bit of savings from your electricity usage, you should read some of the things Lili does. See first comment for a link to her blog.
DeleteThis is really interesting. I've been slack lately about turning the TV off completely (rather than standby) and shutting my laptop down completely. I've been making more of an effort now that I'm unemployed, so it's good to know it can make a difference.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your job hunting.
DeleteThis is interesting. I would love to be able to unplug my den tv when it is not in use, but I would need to be a gymnast to contort and twist into the position it takes to reach its well hidden plug. I try to unplug the laptop at night, but have to admit to having it plugged in nearly all day long. I need to get better at all of this. My biggest complaint though is having an abundance of lights on all the time. I am a "turn it off if you are not in the room type person. My husband like lots of lights on, both in the house and outside.
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I have different ideas about turning off lights also, but we either have fluorescent or LED's, so it's probably not an area that I need to worry much about. You know--chose your battles. But old habits die hard.
Delete