8 Easy Projects for Instant Energy Savings
(Page 6 of 9)
February/March 2008
By Gary Reysa
7. Eliminate Phantom Electrical Loads
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I suggest we lobby our representatives in Congress to have all electrical devices labeled with the amount of power they use when they are switched “off.” These phantom loads are relatively small, but they add up to considerable wasted electricity. For now, the easiest way to find out how much power your appliances and gadgets consume even when they’re “off” is with an inexpensive meter, such as the Kill-A-Watt. You plug the Kill-A-Watt into the wall, and then plug the device into the Kill-A-Watt. The meter measures power use and keeps totals for the time it’s plugged in. Other brands work similarly — WattsUp is another.
In my home, all the phantom loads added up to a total of about 80 watts of power. That’s 700 kWh per year! With power strips, you can completely turn off everything plugged into them by turning off the power strip. I used power strips to eliminate 20 of the 80 watts, and that is what I show below. The remaining 60 watts is my fancy Dish HDTV receiver that always uses 60 watts. Turning it off has no effect on its power consumption whatsoever! The only cost of this project was a couple of power strips — about $20. I spent another $50 upgrading my satellite receiver. It still consumes power when it’s off, but only about 15 watts instead of 60.
Energy savings/year | 569 kWh |
Initial cost | $70 |
DIY labor | 4 hours |
CO2 reduction | 1,137 pounds |
$s Saved/year | $57 |
Energy source | Electricity |
1st year return | 81 percent |
10 year savings | $907 |
8. Use Electric Mattress Pads
Unlike electric blankets, the power consumption for mattress pad heaters is very low (about 0.15 kWh per night). By using these electric mattress pads to heat the bed, we’re able to keep the temperature of the rest of the house much lower and still be comfortable. We have two furnaces in the house, but since putting in the electric mattress pad heaters, we have been able to turn off the furnace that heats the bedrooms. The savings in propane is considerable, and the comfort is outstanding.
Others have reported being able to do the same thing with good down comforters and the like, but we’ve tried that and it doesn’t work nearly as well for me. The mattress pad heaters vary in price, but ours was $125. The dollar savings were $186 per year.
Energy savings/year | 2,320 kWh |
Initial cost | $125 |
DIY labor | 0 hours |
CO2 reduction | 1,150 pounds |
$s Saved/year | $186 |
Energy source | Propane |
1st year return | 148 percent |
10 year savings | $2,963 |
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