Rose Cottage Ltd

In the interests of saving energy and saving money in 2011, I recently purchased a Kill A Watt unit.

Now watt? (Just kidding!)

With this tool and some simple calculations I’ll find out where my money is really going.

Power companies are good about telling you how much they charge but not so good about identifying where it’s going. The local power company charges 12 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh). This means if I leave a 100-watt light bulb burning all month (720 hours), my power company will charge me $8.64.

Now with the Kill A Watt unit, I can find out how much each appliance in my home uses and decide whether I want to pay for it or not.

Here’s an insightful list of information provided by my new energy-saving monitor:

100-watt lamp ~ burns 100 watts
Cost: $8.64 per month

Curling Iron ~ burns 25 watts
Cost: $2.16 per month

Cellphone Charger ~ burns 5 watts
Cost: $0.43 per month

Desktop Computer ~ burns 75 watts
Cost: $6.48 per month

An appliance’s power consumption is not constant.

The coffeemaker burns 920 watts when brewing. This would be $80 per month if it brewed 24/7. Normally, the coffeemaker brews for a few minutes and “warms” for many hours. When in the “warming” mode, the coffeemaker uses 125 watts or $10.80 per month. Note to self: Turn OFF the coffeemaker!

My TV system with a 46 inch screen also includes a DVD player and a DVR unit. When the TV is turned off the system burns 50 watts or $4.30 per month. When the TV is on it burns 200 watts or $17.28 per month. So, if you are one of those who uses the TV as background noise, you will pay for it. Unfortunately, the DVR must be powered all the time in order to record favorite programs – so my ability to control this cost is limited.

Goals for 2011 electrical energy savings is to reduce usage by 25% which could be a savings of $30 per month. We shall see….

You can see an image of the Kill A Watt unit in the prior post.