Sunday, September 4, 2011

How to Measure Your Home Energy Usage

If you're looking to conserve energy in your home, your first step is to calculate how much energy you are consuming.



The following formula will give you a good starting point:

(Wattage x Hours Used Per Day) / 1000 = Daily Kilowatt-hour (KWh) Consumption

1 kilowatt (kW) = 1,000 Watts

This will give you your daily usage. Multiply that number by the number of days the appliance is used per year to give you an annual consumption. Once you have that number, you can calculate how much it costs you to run any given appliance each year!

Take your personal computer and monitor for example. Assume it runs for four hours each day and is used 365 days/year:

(150 Watts x 4 hours/day x 365 days/year) / 1000
=394 kWh x 8.5 cents/kWh
=$33.51/year

While that may not seem like a lot, consider ALL of the appliances you use on a daily basis such as your refrigerator, your television, and the lights in your home.

The wattage of your appliances can typically be found stamped on the bottom or the back of the product. What you'll find is the maximum power drawn by the appliance. Many appliances have a range, such as refrigerators and radios, so the actual amount of power used depends on exactly how you use it.

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