Heating and cooling are by far the greatest energy users in the home, making up around 40% of your electric bill. Other big users are washers, dryers, ovens, and stoves. Electronic devices like laptops and TVs are usually pretty cheap to run, but of course, it can all add up.
Heating and cooling account for 41% of the total electricity used in U.S. homes according to EIA data, making HVAC the largest piece of each home's demand. Space cooling, in particular, accounts for the largest electricity draw in American homes at 16.6%.
Use a device that plugs into the same electrical outlet as one of your appliances. It will measure how much electricity that appliance is using. Or consider installing one of several devices available on the market that work with your meter to monitor usage in real time and even capture usage statistics.
Greater Use of Home & Devices
You may run your air conditioner more or keep your heat higher to be comfortable. Your computer, printer and other electronics will draw energy all day. You may need brighter lighting, too. You can reduce the impact by using efficient lighting and devices.
Did you know that when your appliances or electronic devices are plugged in, they're draining energy – even if they're not in use? Phantom power, also called standby power, refers to the energy that's wasted around your home when devices are plugged in and using power, but you're not actively using them.
Even when turned off, the majority of modern kettles draw 30W (watts) of electricity each hour. That means a year of keeping your water kettle plugged in, you've spent 64p of electricity not using it.
Gas ovens are the biggest culprits, so if you have the option, opt for a convection or fan oven. If you get into the nitty-gritty, you'll find microwave ovens are where it's at. They use approximately 50% of the energy produced to cook your kai (food)—win.
Heating and cooling are by far the greatest energy users in the home, making up around 40% of your electric bill. Other big users are washers, dryers, ovens, and stoves.
You might not realize it, but electronic devices continue to use power even when they aren't in use. As long as a plug is in the electric outlet, small amounts of energy is being pulled from your home. This is known as vampire energy because your appliances suck energy without providing any use to you.
Average TVs use between 50 and 200 W of electricity to stay powered. On average, solar panels are rated at around 350 W, meaning you'll be able to power a TV easily with just one solar panel.
Air fryers offer advantages, particularly regarding energy efficiency and cost savings. For instance, a typical 4-quart air fryer uses 1,500 watts, almost half the power consumption of a regular full-size oven. An air fryer requires half the electricity, making it 50% more efficient than a full-size electric oven.
The bigger the dehumidifier (and the higher the wattage), the more watts it'll generally use. Large ones can use up to 500 watts, while the smaller models usually only use about 22 watts. All of these factors can also impact your dehumidifier's energy use.
Turning off your appliances at the wall won't magically cut your power bill in half, but it can help you further conserve energy and save on electricity. Every little bit counts!
Air conditioning uses the most electricity in a home in every region of the US and accounts for 15-23% of the average household consumption. At around 12.5%, space heating has the second largest share of consumption in every region except the South.
Not only does leaving your phone charger plugged in increase your electricity bills, but it also wastes energy. When you leave your charger plugged in, even if your phone is not connected to it, the charger is still using power from the outlet.
You probably don't need your microwave to tell you the time, so unplug it when you aren't using it. Using power strips can help, especially when you have several separate devices that are typically used together. Having your TV, game consoles, and home cinema system all plugged into one power strip makes sense.
To get specifics regarding your energy usage, you need an electricity usage monitor that tells you exactly how many kWh a device or appliance is drawing. It can be as simple as a "plug load" monitor that plugs into an outlet.
Research shows that, on average, modern TVs use approximately 58.6 watts when they're “on” or in use, and approximately 1.3 watts in standby mode. This rate of usage is higher than appliances like refrigerators, washing machines, and clothes dryers.