Tag Archives: electricity

How to calculate appliance energy usage

Kitchen AppliancesI conduct Residential Energy Audits on behalf of OPALCO, the local utility provider in San Juan County. Oftentimes, homeowners are completely unaware of how much it actually costs to run a particular appliance. But, it can be calculated easily!

If you’re trying to decide whether to invest in a more energy-efficient appliance or you’d like to determine your electricity loads, you may want to estimate appliance energy consumption. You can do so with this formula: Wattage × Hours Used per Day ÷ 1,000 = Daily Kilowatt-hour (kWh) consumption (1 kilowatt [kW] = 1,000 Watts). Multiply this by the number of days you use the appliance during the year to determine annual consumption. To calculate the annual cost to run an appliance, multiply the kWh per year by your local utility company’s rate per kWh consumed. Note: use eight hours as an average daily maximum wattage time for a refrigerator. Although turned “on” all the time, refrigerators actually cycle on and off to maintain interior temperature. For typical wattages of various appliances see our chart.

OVERHEAD UH-OH: EXPOSED SERVICE ENTRANCE CONDUCTORS NEED TO BE SEALED

Service entrance conductors connect your home to the electrical grid. In other words, they are pretty darn important if you want to turn the lights, heat, and Netflix on.

However, if I can quote Spider-Man’s dad (or Cliff Robertson speaking with Tobey Maguire in the 2002 blockbuster Spider-Man movie): “With great power, comes great responsibility.” 

Aside from being a horrible pun, this also means these components require special attention.

I recently came across a situation on Orcas Island where exposed overhead service entrance conductors needed to be sealed where they entered the service mast. I cited this in my report for obvious safety reasons.

If you have questions or comments about electrical issues or home inspections in general, tweet me (@AIHomeInspect).

To Turn Off or Not to Turn Off?

According to the US Department, of Energy, “the cost effectiveness of turning off lights depends on the type of bulb and the cost of electricity. The type of light bulb you use is important for several reasons. All light bulbs have a nominal or rated operating life, which is affected by how many times they are turned on and off. The more often they are switched on and off, the lower their operating life.” The type of lights and the price of electricity determine whether it’s best to turn lights off when you leave a room. Consider using sensors, timers and other automatic lighting controls. See energy.gov’s recommendations for when to turn off the various types of lights in your home.

Top Stealth Home Energy Hogs

In Forbes magazine, William Pentland says, “The relentless rise of electricity prices over the past decade has made many consumers more conscientious about how they use electric power. Many of those conscientious people may find it frustrating – to put it mildly – that their daily or even hourly efforts to turn off devices they’re not using hasn’t delivered the results they’d expected. The blame belongs to the growing number of “vampire” or “phantom” electronic products that populate today’s typical home. An alarmingly large number of electrical products cannot be truly turned off without being unplugged. These ‘vampire’ products draw power 24 hours a day, whether “on” or “off.” See the article for a list of 26 electrical products that consume the most juice while they’re “off.”

Top Stealth Home Energy Hogs!

Front view of network wired routerIn Forbes magazine, William Pentland says, “The relentless rise of electricity prices over the past decade has made many consumers more conscientious about how they use electric power. Many of those conscientious people may find it frustrating – to put it mildly – that their daily or even hourly efforts to turn off devices they’re not using hasn’t delivered the results they’d expected. The blame belongs to the growing number of “vampire” or “phantom” electronic products that populate today’s typical home. An alarmingly large number of electrical products cannot be truly turned off without being unplugged. These “vampire” products draw power 24 hours a day, whether on or off. See the article for a list of 26 electrical products that consume the most juice while they’re off.