Congratulations to Becky S. who won the a Kill-A-Watt electricity meter and we’re throwing in a short extension cord which we’ve found makes using the Kill A Watt much easier.
We asked and you answered. The top three responses for which appliance in your home used the most electricity were:
- Number 3 with 7 votes was your Dryer.
- Number 2 with 13 votes was your Air Conditioner.
- And Number 1 with 25 votes was your Refrigerator.
Actually, space heating is at the top of the list followed by water heating and then space cooling (air conditioning). Refrigeration comes in 7th only using about 4% of a homes energy. A lot of credit should be given to the energy efficiency standards for refrigerator passed over the last 20 years that are expected to save 6.64 quadrillion BTUs (quads) of electricity in the US by 2030. For reference, the US consumed 12.08 quads of electricity in 2009, so efficiency standards can make a huge difference.
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| Buildings Energy Data Book – Residential Buildings |
Thank you to everyone that entered. If you didn’t win, but still want a Kill A Watt meter, you can purchase them at many local hardware stores or online from places like Amazon.com or EFI.org.
A good summary of how much power various appliances in your home use is available in the US DOE’s Energy Savers page on Estimating Energy Use.
You can get a lot more detailed information about how electricity is used in homes in the US in the EIA’s U.S. Household Electricty Report.
Happy Greening!
Alicia & Jon
Since I didn’t win, but this got me thinking about what in our house uses electricity compared to the national average (no space heaters, big honking computers on a lot of the time though),
and now I want to go checking it out.
One other option besides winning and besides purchasing one – if you live somewhere near Alicia and Jon, you can borrow one from the Minuteman Library. (And now I’m on the waiting list…)
http://find.minlib.net/iii/encore/record/C|Rb2753959|Skill+a+watt|P0,2|Orightresult|X5?lang=eng&suite=pearl&doRequest=REGULAR-b2753959
Cheaper, and greener to reuse and borrow!
Congratulations to everyone, and that’s a great idea pekmez… Even if you don’t live near us, ask your local library if they have electricity or Kill A Watt meters for loan. I spoke with members of the Massachusetts Librarian Association at a conference last spring and they indicated that it is very common for libraries in MA to loan Kill A Watt meters.
Watch for our giveaway of a piece of Jon’s solar panel jewelry in October!