Sears Blue Climate Crew

Household energy hogs revealed

You know the home electronics and appliances in your house eat up the electricity you pay for each month, but you might not have a sense of which ones have the biggest appetites.

Watt are they consuming?

The first step is to learn how many watts your electronics and appliances use. You can usually find the wattage stamped on the bottom or back of the device or on its nameplate. The wattage listed is the maximum power the device draws. Since many appliances have a range of settings (for example, the volume on a radio), the actual amount of power consumed can vary.

Typical wattages for common appliances

Here are nameplate wattages for many household electronics and appliances, from highest to lowest users (from the US government's energy information web site, http://www.eere.energy.gov):

More than 1000 watts

Water heater (40 gallon)	4500-5500
Clothes dryer	1800-5000
Toaster oven	1225
Dishwasher	1200-2400
Hair dryer	1200-1875
Clothes iron	1000-1800
Vacuum cleaner	1000-1440

Less than 1000 watts

Coffee maker	900-1200
Toaster	800-1400
Dehumidifier	785
Fan, furnace	750
Heater (portable)	750-1500
Microwave oven	750-1100
Refrigerator (frost-free, 16 cubic feet)	725
Clothes washer	350-500
Water pump (deep well)	250-1100
Fan, whole house	2400750
Television, projection, 53-61 inch	170
Computer monitor (awake/asleep)	150/30 or less
Television, 36 inch	133
Computer CPU (awake/asleep)	120/30
Water bed (with heater, no cover)	120-380
Television, flat screen	120
Television, 27 inch	113

Less than 100 watts

Radio (stereo)	70-400
Fan, ceiling fan	65-175
Television, 19 inch	65-110
Electric blanket single/double	60/100
Aquarium	50-1210
Fan, window	55-250
Laptop computer	50
DVD	20-25
VCR	17-21
Clock radio	10

The time factor

For a truer picture of energy consumed, look beyond the wattage – factor in how long the device is on. The television that consumes 100 watts and is on for 4 hours a day contributes more to your electric bill than does the 1000-watt clothes iron you use for 15 minutes a month (when you decide to wear that cotton shirt to a nice restaurant).

To figure out how much each device costs each month, take a look at your electric bill to find out you much your electric utility charges per kilowatt-hour (kwh – or check their web site. Then follow these steps:

1. Divide the wattage (either from the nameplate or from the table above) by 1000 to convert watts to kilowatts.

2. Multiply the kilowatts by the number of hours the device is on each day to find the daily kwh consumed. So the 100 watt television (or 0.1 kilowatt) that runs 4 hours a days uses 0.4 kwh. (Assume your refrigerator runs 8 hours a day, because refrigerators cycle on and off).

3. Multiply the device's kwh by how much your local utility charges per kwh to learn how much it costs you each day.

You can also calculate the use per month, season or year. For example, a window fan that consumes 200 watts (0.2 kilowatts) and runs 4 hours a day during the summer (120 days) costs $8.16 for the summer if electricity costs 8.5 cents per kwh.