Ways To Sustain

There are many reasons why you would want to improve your electricity conservaton, such as reducing Greenhouse Gases (GHG) or saving money, but whatever the reason in the end it just makes sense.  However for our purpose we’ll look strictly at reducing our electrical consumption from a money savings point of view.  Now what kind of savings can people get from making the right choices?  If you haven’t done anything to save on electricity and you live in an older home, you could save $30-$120 a year with a few low cost suggestions.  Add in replacing a few really old inefficient appliances and you could see even more.

Electrical Usage

The following are some areas in the home that usually consumes the most electricity:

•     Lights
•     Small Appliances (ex. Toasters, coffeemaker, etc.)
•     Fan on the furnace
•     Freezer (separate from the refrigerator)
•     Electric clothes dryer
•     Range (oven)

KiloWhat?

The basic unit for measuring electricity consumption is kilowatt hour (kWh).  You may be thinking there should be a “per hour” in there but that is not the case.  A kilowatt-hour means the amount of electricity consumed by a load (1 kilowatt in this case) operating for one hour. Confused?  Let take the example of a 100 watt light bulb.  If 1000 watts is equal to 1 kW, then it will take 10 hours for that light bulb to consume 1kWh (1000Wh) of electricity (100W x 10h = 1000Wh).  Same thing with a 60 watt bulb running for 50 hours, 60W x 50h = 3000Wh or 3kWh.

Don't Forget

Basic maintenance on any appliance can help with the efficiency and not only help with electrical costs but also extend the life of the appliance.