Hidden Electricity "Vampires"

In the last installment we looked at how simply changing out some of your incandescent light bulbs with new energy efficient compact fluorescent bulbs can save hundreds of dollars annually. It can also result in less overall power demand and a significant reduction in the need to burn fossil fuel at generating plants. Less use of scarce resources and less pollution in our air are both very important.

This week we will look at some less obvious devices that may seem at first to be very insignificant but actually consume substantial amounts of electricity over time. We call them Electricity “Vampires.”

One of the negative byproducts of our digital age is the proliferation of devices that require small power supplies that draw current 24/7. Most electric devices of years past consumed current only when they were actually being used. This is no longer the case. For example, even when your TV is turned off, it most likely is consuming between 5 and 15 watts of electricity per hour. This keeps the clock set; the favorite channel selection updated, and allows for an almost instant picture when you do turn it “on.”

Look around your house. I bet you can find a dozen or more small power supplies plugged into outlets. The cell phone or iPod charger, the telephone answering machine, the wireless telephone hand set, the electric screw drive charger and stove timer, all consume small amounts of electricity. When you add them up and figure that most other houses on your street, in your town and in your state all have many of the same appliances, the amount of electricity being used is significant.

It is not practical to turn off some of these devices since doing so will often cause memory loss and the need to re-program them. For those of you without teenagers this can take hours. In other cases, just unplugging chargers when not in use is a good start.

Here are a few other tips:
- If you are going away for three or more days, turn off your hot water heater
- Put motion sensors on lights in hallways, garages etc.
- Use only the amount of light you need for the task at hand.
- Open those windows and use a fan instead of A/C

The bottom line is that energy conservation is a cumulative thing. If everyone does a few things, the impact can be significant.

Hidden Electricity "Vampires"

In the last installment we looked at how simply changing out some of your incandescent light bulbs with new energy efficient compact fluorescent bulbs can save hundreds of dollars annually. It can also result in less overall power demand and a significant reduction in the need to burn fossil fuel at generating plants. Less use of scarce resources and less pollution in our air are both very important.

This week we will look at some less obvious devices that may seem at first to be very insignificant but actually consume substantial amounts of electricity over time. We call them Electricity “Vampires.”

One of the negative byproducts of our digital age is the proliferation of devices that require small power supplies that draw current 24/7. Most electric devices of years past consumed current only when they were actually being used. This is no longer the case. For example, even when your TV is turned off, it most likely is consuming between 5 and 15 watts of electricity per hour. This keeps the clock set; the favorite channel selection updated, and allows for an almost instant picture when you do turn it “on.”

Look around your house. I bet you can find a dozen or more small power supplies plugged into outlets. The cell phone or iPod charger, the telephone answering machine, the wireless telephone hand set, the electric screw drive charger and stove timer, all consume small amounts of electricity. When you add them up and figure that most other houses on your street, in your town and in your state all have many of the same appliances, the amount of electricity being used is significant.

It is not practical to turn off some of these devices since doing so will often cause memory loss and the need to re-program them. For those of you without teenagers this can take hours. In other cases, just unplugging chargers when not in use is a good start.

Here are a few other tips:
- If you are going away for three or more days, turn off your hot water heater
- Put motion sensors on lights in hallways, garages etc.
- Use only the amount of light you need for the task at hand.
- Open those windows and use a fan instead of A/C

The bottom line is that energy conservation is a cumulative thing. If everyone does a few things, the impact can be significant.

Save Big and Be Green with Compact Fluorescents

Much attention has been given lately to global warming and the need for all of us, especially those of us in the United State and other industrialized countries, to conserve resources and reduce our contribution to global pollution. If you’re like me, when I hear the reports or read the accounts in newspapers or magazines, it still seems like something that needs to be addressed by someone else. Many of us have the tendency to think that what we do individually makes little difference. That of course is not true. Over the next two weeks I will give you some suggestions for saving electricity thus reducing pollution from our local coal fired generators. At the same time I’ll give you an added incentive, since you will not only be saving energy but be able to put a few bucks back in your pocket.

In any house there are visible and invisible consumers of electricity. Some will surprise you and you will be amazed at the amount of energy (and cash) you can save with just a few changes.

Among the most visible consumers of energy is lighting. Let’s look at household lighting and how to accomplish some significant savings.

I checked with my friends at Duke Energy to arrive at an average residential cost per kilowatt hour. In other words, how much does it cost to use 1000 watts of electricity for one hour? The answer, in the Greater Cincinnati Area including Indiana, but not Kentucky, is 10 cents. I will use that number to compute the cost savings throughout this article. If you don’t live here you will need to find out from your electric provider your KW/H cost.

With that in mind I did a little auditing of my own habits to see what impact I could have on reducing my own energy consumption and what that might mean for my utility bill. I have already changed out the bulbs in several lighting fixtures with highly efficient compact fluorescent bulbs. These new bulbs come in a variety of sizes with varying light outputs. Some can be used with dimmer switches. (Be sure to look on the package since not all will work with dimmers.)

Currently you can purchase compact fluorescent light bulbs that provide the same amount of light (or lumens) as a standard incandescent bulbs but use a fraction of electricity. Those bulbs will last 10 times longer. Let’s do the math. If you use a 100 watt bulb in a lamp in the family room and it is turned on an average of five hours per day (more in the winter, less in the summer) that will work out to 1,825 hours per year. If you use the regular incandescent bulb, it will consume 182,500 watts in one year ( 182 kwhrs) costing you $18.00. If you replace that incandescent bulb with a compact fluorescent bulb using only 23 watts per hour, you will pay $4.00 for the same amount of light for an annual savings on that single lamp of $14.00

If you look around your home, I bet you can find a dozen or more lighting fixtures that can be changed out with little effort and a modest expense. Even figuring in the higher cost to purchase each compact fluorescent light bulb, you will have a net cash savings at the end of the year. Each year thereafter will save you more than $150 if you change out 10 or 12 bulbs. The reduction in electric demand of course will lessen the need for Duke to burn coal to make electricity in the first place.

In the next post we will look at some less visible electricity “vampires.”

Save Big and Be Green with Compact Fluorescents

Much attention has been given lately to global warming and the need for all of us, especially those of us in the United State and other industrialized countries, to conserve resources and reduce our contribution to global pollution. If you’re like me, when I hear the reports or read the accounts in newspapers or magazines, it still seems like something that needs to be addressed by someone else. Many of us have the tendency to think that what we do individually makes little difference. That of course is not true. Over the next two weeks I will give you some suggestions for saving electricity thus reducing pollution from our local coal fired generators. At the same time I’ll give you an added incentive, since you will not only be saving energy but be able to put a few bucks back in your pocket.

In any house there are visible and invisible consumers of electricity. Some will surprise you and you will be amazed at the amount of energy (and cash) you can save with just a few changes.

Among the most visible consumers of energy is lighting. Let’s look at household lighting and how to accomplish some significant savings.

I checked with my friends at Duke Energy to arrive at an average residential cost per kilowatt hour. In other words, how much does it cost to use 1000 watts of electricity for one hour? The answer, in the Greater Cincinnati Area including Indiana, but not Kentucky, is 10 cents. I will use that number to compute the cost savings throughout this article. If you don’t live here you will need to find out from your electric provider your KW/H cost.

With that in mind I did a little auditing of my own habits to see what impact I could have on reducing my own energy consumption and what that might mean for my utility bill. I have already changed out the bulbs in several lighting fixtures with highly efficient compact fluorescent bulbs. These new bulbs come in a variety of sizes with varying light outputs. Some can be used with dimmer switches. (Be sure to look on the package since not all will work with dimmers.)

Currently you can purchase compact fluorescent light bulbs that provide the same amount of light (or lumens) as a standard incandescent bulbs but use a fraction of electricity. Those bulbs will last 10 times longer. Let’s do the math. If you use a 100 watt bulb in a lamp in the family room and it is turned on an average of five hours per day (more in the winter, less in the summer) that will work out to 1,825 hours per year. If you use the regular incandescent bulb, it will consume 182,500 watts in one year ( 182 kwhrs) costing you $18.00. If you replace that incandescent bulb with a compact fluorescent bulb using only 23 watts per hour, you will pay $4.00 for the same amount of light for an annual savings on that single lamp of $14.00

If you look around your home, I bet you can find a dozen or more lighting fixtures that can be changed out with little effort and a modest expense. Even figuring in the higher cost to purchase each compact fluorescent light bulb, you will have a net cash savings at the end of the year. Each year thereafter will save you more than $150 if you change out 10 or 12 bulbs. The reduction in electric demand of course will lessen the need for Duke to burn coal to make electricity in the first place.

In the next post we will look at some less visible electricity “vampires.”