100+ Ways to Improve Your Electric Bill: Other Electronics and Appliances

It’s sad to say that today is the last post of the 100+ Ways to Improve Your Electric Bill series.  We have covered a significant majority of the tips from our friends at the Edison Electric Institute.  Hopefully you have followed along and were able to implement these tips and reduce your energy consumption.

To recap, we have covered:

• Air Infiltration
• Heating and Cooling (Part 1 and Part 2).
• Refrigeration
• Cooking
• Water Heating
• Lighting
• Laundry 
• Dish Washing

Today’s topic is Other Electronics and Appliances, referencing TV’s, Computers, and game consoles.  Enjoy the tips!

• The average new plasma TV uses about 301 watts, while an average LCD TV uses 111 watts. If the TV is used for 3 hours per day, the plasma TV will use about 330 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year and cost about $37.90 to operate, while the LCD TV will use about 122 kWh per year and cost about $14.03 to operate (based on a national average cost of 11.5 cents per kWh).
• Some TVs have a “quick start” option, which makes the TV turn on more quickly when you press the power button. However, this option uses much more power in the “standby mode” - typically 25 to 50 watts, compared to the normal standby mode usage of 1 to 3 watts. If you don’t mind waiting for a few seconds, turn off this option to save energy.
• With an LCD TV, turn down the LCD backlight. By turning down the backlight, you’ll lower power consumption and also make the TV less bright. However, many LCD TVs are set on a “retail” setting, which is the brightest setting for use in re¬tail stores. Most LCD TVs have a “home” setting, which is more appropriate for home use and will save energy.
• Some TVs come with a power-saver mode that is designed to reduce energy consumption. Performance of this mode varies from model to model. The power-saver mode usually makes the TV less bright, but this also can help with image quality, especially with the room lights turned off.
• If you need a digital-to-analog converter box for your TV, make sure to look for the ENERGY STAR® label. Converter boxes that have this label use no more than 8 watts in the “on” mode and 1 watt in the “sleep” mode. They also power down automatically within a few hours of not being used. 
• Look for the ENERGY STAR® label when shopping for a variety of electronics and appliances, such as dehumidifiers, ceiling fans, battery chargers, DVD players/recorders, Blu-ray players, cordless phones, home stereo systems, cable boxes, or set-top boxes.
• Computer screen savers may save screens, but they do not save energy. Make sure that the screen saver does not deactivate your computer’s sleep mode. You can set the computer to operate the screen saver, then go into the sleep mode.
• Save energy - and space - with a multi-function device that combines several capabilities - such as print, fax, copy, and scan.
• There is a difference in the electricity usage of video game consoles, as well. If you’re in the market for a game console, be sure to comparison shop. The electricity usage of game consoles ranges from 19 watts to 197 watts.
• It is important to turn off your video game con¬sole when it is not in use. Most game consoles use as much energy in the “idle” mode as in the “active” or “game on” mode. The annual electricity usage for a video game console that is always turned on is nearly 10 times as much as a console that is turned off when not in use.

Thanks to our friends at the Edison Electric Institute for providing the list of 100+ Ways to Improve your Electric Bill.

100+ Ways to Improve Your Electric Bill: Dish Washing

Welcome to the eighth portion of the series: 100+ Ways to Improve your Electric Bill.  Many of these are low cost and no cost tips, and easy to implement.

So far in the series, we have covered:

• Air Infiltration
• Heating and Cooling (Part 1 and Part 2).
• Refrigeration
• Cooking
• Water Heating
• Lighting
• Laundry

Who knew there might be significant, and easy, energy savings around washing dishes.  As you will see in the next few tips, the energy savings can add up:

• Soak or pre-wash only in the cases of burned-on or dried-on foods.
• Be sure that the dishwasher is full, but not overloaded.
• Don’t use the “rinse hold” feature on your dishwasher when you only have a few soiled dishes.
• Overall, dishwashers use less water than washing dishes by hand. For a full load of dishes in the dishwasher, washing the same dishes by hand would typically use at least 6 more gallons of hot water.
• Look for dishwashers with internal booster heaters, so that you can set your water heater thermostat at 120° F (rather than 140° F or higher for dishwashing purposes). Most new dishwashers have this feature.
• Look for the ENERGY STAR® label when purchasing a new dishwasher. New criteria went into effect on January 1, 2007, which made ENERGY STAR® units more than 35 percent more efficient than baseline units.
• Many dishwashers have an option for “air drying” or “heated drying.” The “air drying” setting will use less energy.
• New federal efficiency standards for standard-size and compact dishwashers took effect on January 1, 2010. For standard-size units, the efficiency standards are a maximum of 6.5 gallons of water used per cycle and a maximum usage of 355 kilowatt-hours per year.

Thanks to our friends at the Edison Electric Institute for providing the list of 100+ Ways to Improve your Electric Bill.

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