A study in power use
Mar. 11th, 2009 11:26 pmI've written before about the ridiculous use of power in my home. According to my power bills we use 22kWh per day. My colleague, who has 2 adults and 2 children at home, has a consumption of 6kWh a day.
I have now measured most things in my home and I have found the following things:
My computer consumes 2W when it's off.
mr_bassman's computers and powered hub use 4.4kWh of our 22kWh a day. If he changes to a laptop with wireless (and gets rid of every other computer!) we will save about $270 a year.
I've been leaving my desktop PC running so it can be used as a server for files and printing. If I turn it off and use a portable hard drive instead I will save 1.5kWh. I can plug the printer into my laptop when I need it.
Computers and associated stuff account for about a third of my total electricity use.
My dishwasher appears to use twice as much energy as a modern one would. A new dishwasher will save me 1kWh a day
I have a 17year old fridge which was a 5 star fridge in its time. It now costs me 2.3kWh a day to run. A new fridge will save me about 1.5kWh a day and pay for itself in about 5 years.
Running random clocks in various equipment (VCR/DVD/microwave/stove etc) costs me almost another 1 kWh per day.
Running the fluoro lights in my kitchen and family room in winter accounts for nearly 2kWh, or half my lighting load. I think this winter will be better; since we painted the kitchen we don't need the light during the day.
We have an electric kettle which is operated about 10 times a day. That's another 1 kWh. I think we're buying a new, stove-top kettle. At about $15 that will pay back in about 3 months.
If I implemented all of these savings I could possibly get my consumption down to 12kWh.
I have now measured most things in my home and I have found the following things:
My computer consumes 2W when it's off.
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I've been leaving my desktop PC running so it can be used as a server for files and printing. If I turn it off and use a portable hard drive instead I will save 1.5kWh. I can plug the printer into my laptop when I need it.
Computers and associated stuff account for about a third of my total electricity use.
My dishwasher appears to use twice as much energy as a modern one would. A new dishwasher will save me 1kWh a day
I have a 17year old fridge which was a 5 star fridge in its time. It now costs me 2.3kWh a day to run. A new fridge will save me about 1.5kWh a day and pay for itself in about 5 years.
Running random clocks in various equipment (VCR/DVD/microwave/stove etc) costs me almost another 1 kWh per day.
Running the fluoro lights in my kitchen and family room in winter accounts for nearly 2kWh, or half my lighting load. I think this winter will be better; since we painted the kitchen we don't need the light during the day.
We have an electric kettle which is operated about 10 times a day. That's another 1 kWh. I think we're buying a new, stove-top kettle. At about $15 that will pay back in about 3 months.
If I implemented all of these savings I could possibly get my consumption down to 12kWh.