Kill A Watt

I recently read about the Kill A Watt EZ Power Meter. In our Ameren Gas and Electric bill they always include a pamphlet about how to reduce energy costs. In one of the recent pamphlets it mentioned Ameren had donated these Kill A Watts to local libraries. To use it, plug it in to a 120-volt outlet then plug in an appliance you'd like to test. It will tell you how much it costs to run the appliance for a year, month, or day. It's amazing! Super informative and is definitely going to change my electricity habits. Here's what I found:

The Power Meter's default price is 10.7 cents per kWh, which is the price I used to test all the devices. All the prices are per month.

Laptop on and charging: $3.52/month
Laptop sleeping and charging: $2.77/month
Laptop off and charging: $1.95/month
Laptop off, not charging: $1.00/month

Cell phone charging: $.38

Fan set on level 1: $3.31
Fan set on level 2: $3.54
Fan set on level 3: $4.04

Lamp w/non energy saving bulb: $4.65
Lamp off and plugged in: $1.30
Lamp w/energy saving bulb: $1.07!!

Lamp w/non energy saving bulb: $5.39
Lamp w/ energy saving bulb: $2.00!!

Stereo (w/digital clock) not playing: $6.75
Stereo playing: $7.16

Microwave (w/digital clock) not running: $6.47

Air conditioner (yikes!) set at 72˚: $95.02!!
Air conditioner off: around $70.00, was gradually going down (but yikes!)

Power strip with TV, VCR, and router: $4.85 (seems like it should be more)

This was an eye opener! I was especially surprised by how big a difference there was once I changed the incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescent ones (they use 2/3 less energy, produce less heat, and last 10x longer!). And the AC was a big surprise too! We've always tried to be smart about it though, turning it off at night and when we leave the house. But now we're going to have to unplug it too I think. At About.com it says the most energy efficient temperature to set your AC at is 78˚! That's 6˚ higher than what we usually have it on.

I think the bottom line of this experiment was to realize that devices can still draw energy even when they're turned off (known as "phantom loads"), like the stereo I always leave plugged in! According to the instructional booklet that came with the Kill A Watt "in the average home, 75% of the electricity used to power home electronics is consumed while the products are turned off." I'm going to try to unplug things when they're not in use, especially my laptop; it has a battery for a reason!