Electronic equipment power savings

[steelyman]

A Kill-A-Watt is a good investment. I still have a few more things to check, but most everything I have checked led me to not turn it off - the built in sleep mode worked very well. Printers, and other things typically draw a single watt or less in sleep mode. < $1/year for average rates. Really not worth the wear/tear or trouble.



-ERD50

I agree that a Kill-A-Watt is a very useful resource to have. Easy to use, may point towards opportunities to save, and not expensive. AND you can lend to friends to try at their places, no hassle!

 

[kneehigh]

Used around 352 kHw in Oct. The only thing I can do to lower my bill is to unplug the coffee maker after 5-10 min and heat my cup of coffee using the microwave when it needs it. Anything with a heating element is going to used a lot of wattage like the iron or hair curler and dryer. If those are on for a long time without being used, it's money in the garbage.

 

[samclem]

Anything with a heating element is going to used a lot of wattage like the iron or hair curler and dryer. If those are on for a long time without being used, it's money in the garbage.

Yes, but it's just not a lot of money. If an iron uses 1000 watts and it is left on, it will typically cycle on and off with a duty cycle of about 50%. At average electrical rates in the US, that amounts to about 7 cents of electricity for an hour. Even a clothes dryer, which uses a lot of juice, dries a load for about a quarter. Now, in Hawaii (or Alaska)--that's a different story.