Electrical outlets

[lukethedrifter]

Is the freezer full? pretty sure they use quite a bit less energy if they are.

Wassup with the 3 fridges?

[planet planet]

Is the freezer full? pretty sure they use quite a bit less energy if they are.

Wassup with the 3 fridges?

I don't know. We have one regular one, one beer one, and one with soda and misc. We could consolidate the last two. We go to Costco so we usually have bulk of everything.

[lukethedrifter]

Is the freezer full? pretty sure they use quite a bit less energy if they are.

Wassup with the 3 fridges?

I don't know. We have one regular one, one beer one, and one with soda and misc. We could consolidate the last two. We go to Costco so we usually have bulk of everything.

so you stock up at Costco to save money then spend that money on electricity to run the fridges. I think I'd reevaluate the utility/efficiency of that mode.

[Jocephus]

damn 1%'er's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Arthur Dent]

AD, can you share how you measured your usage? Just knowing where all of this is coming from would be a great place to start in tackling our electricity bills.

I just bought one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/P3-International- ... 00009MDBU/



It will work for everything that plugs into an 120V outlet and will tell you how much power is being used right now, or, if you leave it connected over time, how much energy has been used over that period. Unfortunately, things that don't plug in, like the water heater or the air conditioner, are more difficult to measure.

[planet planet]

Is the freezer full? pretty sure they use quite a bit less energy if they are.

Wassup with the 3 fridges?

I don't know. We have one regular one, one beer one, and one with soda and misc. We could consolidate the last two. We go to Costco so we usually have bulk of everything.

VARIETY! Honestly, I don't think we'd considered the fridges as the source of our woes before; our focus was on inefficient windows and/or two HVAC units.

[Arthur Dent]

Don't even get me started on this topic; our electricity bills are off the hook. I don't think our three fridges and one standup freezer helps matters. We got mostly new windows in '04, but we still have a few old windows which we should have addressed long ago.

Did you see a noticeable drop in the bill when you had the windows replaced?

My house has terrible insulation, single pane windows everywhere, leaky ducts, exposed foundation that saps a ton of heat from the floor when it's cold, etc. In order to cool my upstairs bedroom enough to sleep comfortably, I have to set the thermostat so it is too chilly downstairs. Unfortunately, as a renter I don't have too many options, but I was thinking of getting a home energy audit anyway to see if maybe there are some relatively cheap options that might improve the situation.

[mikechamp]

Is the freezer full? pretty sure they use quite a bit less energy if they are.

Wassup with the 3 fridges?

I don't know. We have one regular one, one beer one, and one with soda and misc. We could consolidate the last two. We go to Costco so we usually have bulk of everything.

VARIETY! Honestly, I don't think we'd considered the fridges as the source of our woes before; our focus was on inefficient windows and/or two HVAC units.

planet: You prioritized correctly, though the consolidation of the 2 fridges would also help.

[mikechamp]

Don't even get me started on this topic; our electricity bills are off the hook. I don't think our three fridges and one standup freezer helps matters. We got mostly new windows in '04, but we still have a few old windows which we should have addressed long ago.

Did you see a noticeable drop in the bill when you had the windows replaced?

My house has terrible insulation, single pane windows everywhere, leaky ducts, exposed foundation that saps a ton of heat from the floor when it's cold, etc. In order to cool my upstairs bedroom enough to sleep comfortably, I have to set the thermostat so it is too chilly downstairs. Unfortunately, as a renter I don't have too many options, but I was thinking of getting a home energy audit anyway to see if maybe there are some relatively cheap options that might improve the situation.

The energy auditor will be able to offer suggestions, even though you are a renter. It might also provide you with enough information to present to your landlord for possible retrofit.

And kudos to you for picking up the Kill-a-Watt tool. That is a very helpful product.

[mikechamp]

I spent some time actually measuring electricity usage in my house, and my conclusion was that vampire loads are largely a non-issue. There are a few things, like cable boxes, that are quite wasteful, but most of the stuff people talk about like the clock on your microwave or the cell phone charger that's plugged into the wall without a phone connected consume only a tiny amount of energy. If you eliminated all that stuff, it would have no measurable impact. I suspect that much of the hoopla surrounding this issue is connected to the need to believe that you can save the world through basically costless personal choices.

If you want to reduce electricity in the home, you have to go after the things that actually use substantial energy. That means mostly heating and cooling, but also lighting, the water heater, and major appliances (your fridge uses quite a bit of power, and if it's old you could probably improve this substantially).

I'll agree with your 2nd paragraph, and gently disagree with the 1st.

Products that utilize remotes can use as much as 80% of their operational energy, even when they are off. I've seen research that shows vampire loads can be responsible for as much as 10% of your electricity bill. If you spend on average $200/month in electricity, that adds up to $2,400/year. 10% of that is $240, which is more than one month's utility bills or 48 Subway foot long sandwiches, depending on your perspective.

One easy thing I do in my home: I hook up every TV (and any complimentary product like DVD, stereo, etc.) to a surge strip. Besides trying to protect them from fluctuations in supply, it also allows me to simply flip 1 switch to eliminate their vampire loads. So I have 3 TVs. Two of them might go days without drawing any power. The one we mainly use (which also has a Blu-Ray player, stereo, PS2, and Wii on the same strip) draws power for, at most, 6 hours a day.

Once your old Edison bulbs burn out, changing them out for more efficient ones will also make a difference. While I don't own a Kill-a-Watt, I do recall seeing (in our former house) the electricity bill go down about $5/month when I changed out about 4-5 bulbs.