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Home Energy Conservation Challenge – Week 2

By Solar energy | February 18, 2009

Home Energy Conservation Challenge –      Week 2

Welcome to this week’s Home Energy Conservation Challenge! If you’re here for the first time, you can find how this challenge works here.

Remember our grocery shopping analogy from last week? If not, here it is again:

Imagine that you go to the grocery store every week, pick up all the food you want for your family and never question how much the food costs? You just pick up whatever you want, have it packed in eco-friendly grocery bags, and take it home. You do this every week. Then at the end of the month, you get a bill from the grocery store, telling you how much you owe them for the food you ate the previous four (4) weeks.

Of course, you do not grocery shop this way! The family member who grocery shops every week has a fairly good idea what their basic grocery items cost.

If you got started last week, and have begun tracking your kilowatt-hour use, comparing 2008 to 2009, you have a good idea of your monthly energy use. As you continue to track and compare month by month, you will be able to see how your energy savings strategies are working.

You now also know how much you are paying per kilowatt-hour (or per gallon where applicable): dollar amount of your bill divided by the number of kilowatt-hours you used equals cost per kWh.

Armed with this information, cost per kilowatt-hour, you can get a good estimate of how much it cost you to use most of your household appliances.

Next to your heating/cooling system and hot water heating system, major household appliances like your refrigerator, freezer, stove, and washer/dryer are the big energy uses in your home.

There are a couple ways to estimate the energy used by your home appliances:

1.    Read the appliance manufacturer’s specs label (or engraving) and do the math, or
2.     Use a simple Kill-A-Watt meter
The first method is the longer, more arduous path. If you want to take this route, you certainly may. The math equation is: amps X volts = watts. If you want to do it this way, leave a comment and I’ll post the arduous details.

But I know you have a life! You are going to work every day, raising a family, feeding them, carpooling them, helping them do homework, etc.

Take heart, there’s a better way.

The second method, easier and more accurate, is to use an Kill-A-Watt electric meter. It basically works like this: the meter plugs into the electric outlet, and then you plug your appliance into the electric meter.

The electric meter I use is a Kill-o-watt Meter. You program your cost per kilowatt-hour (kWh) into the meter before plugging it into the electric socket. Then plug your appliance, say your refrigerator, into the electric meter. I suggest you leave the appliance plugged into the Kill-o-watt Meter for 24 hours in order to get a more accurate reading.

Record the kilowatt-hours used per 24 hour period on the Kill-A-Watt meter page of the Energy Challenge excel sheet. Multiply the number of kilowatt-hours by 365 (days per year) to find how much it costs you to run this appliance for a year. Enter this in your excel sheet as well.

We will use this number later when we read EnergyStar Labels.

Also, this number will come in handy to help you decide if and/or when the appliance needs to be replaced.

Proper maintenance also keeps your major appliances running more efficiently.

No doubt, you perform proper maintenance on your automobile, changing oil, rotating tires, checking air in tires, etc. Proper vehicle maintenance helps your automobile run more efficiently and last you longer.

Well, major household appliances need periodic maintenance as well, especially your refrigerator and freezer.

Watch this 2-minute video to learn how to do quick, periodic maintenance to your refreigertor.

Take Action:
1.    Order your Kill-A-Watt meter through this link, (or get one elsewhere).
2.    Clean the coils of your refrigerator as shown in this video
3.    Use the Kill-A-Watt meter and record the energy use of your refrigerator, freezer, floor lamps, and other 120 volt appliances in your Energy Challenge Excel spreadsheet

Note: 210 volt appliances like an all electric stove, water heater, and clothes dryer, cannot be measured with the Kill-A-Watt meter

Topics: Home Energy Conservation Challenge, Reducing energy use | No Comments »

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