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Appliance energy usage may be contributing more to your home’s energy bills than you realize. Though energy costs vary widely across the country, one thing is a constant: making smart appliance choices may help you save money on your utility bills.
Water heaters, washers, dryers, pool pumps, and refrigerators tend to use up the most power in the typical home, but you can determine the energy costs for any appliance in your home by using this formula for appliance energy usage:
(Wattage of the appliance × hours used daily x days used per month) ÷ 1,000 = monthly kilowatt-hours (kWh) appliance energy use x your utility company’s kWh rate = the monthly usage cost for the appliance.)
You can find your utility company’s kWh rate on your power bill and find the wattage of an appliance on the back or side of most of them. kWh refers to how much energy is used over some time while watts is a more fixed measure of how much power something has. While an A/C unit will always have the same wattage, the amount of kWh you are charged for using that appliance will change depending on how much you use it.
Wattage varies widely between appliances since different appliances use vastly different amounts of power. A clock radio, for example, has a typical wattage of 10 watts while a dehumidifier may have 785 watts and a window fan may have 55–250.
Once you understand appliance energy usage and determine how much you’re paying for each appliance in your home, you may want to compare your current appliance costs with the usage costs of energy-efficient models. When replacing your furnace, air conditioner, or other appliances, consider the monthly costs to find a budget-friendly model.
If you need help saving even more, please contact us at Pipe Works Services for information and for help installing energy-efficient heating and cooling systems in your New Jersey home.
