Earlier this week I bought this fancy toy called a Kill A Wat. It allows me to measure how much energy various things in my house are using, and do a little spreadsheeting to figure out how much these various things are costing me per month. Hooray! A nice lady at Xcel Energy was kind enough to help me break down my bill and figure out how much I am paying per kilowatt hour. Oddly, she acted as if people don't regularly ask this question. The answer is 7.322 cents per KwH plus 4% in various taxes. Here are some results of my boring study:
Xbox: .914 cents per hour. Not much. However, if you work 24/7 at leveling up in World of Warcraft, it will not only cost you the respect of society but also $6.58 per month.
Wii: Interestingly, the Wii is 10 times more energy efficient than the Xbox, costing just .137 cents per hour.
Clothes Dryer: by my math, it costs close to 25 cents per load (high heat, 45 minute dry cycle, front loading washer and dryer). So, 2 loads per day costs you $15 per month to dry your clothes.
Linksys Wireless Router: costs 22 cents per month.
Computer: .495 cents per hour when active. i.e. it costs you $3.64 per month if you don't put your computer in sleep mode.
Iphone charger (whilst doing its job): .0457 cents per hour
20" CRT TV: .312 cents per hour
LCD vs. Plasma (using cnet's numbers http://reviews.cnet.com/green-tech/tv-power-efficiency/): LCD: .845 cents per hour Plasma: 2.29 cents per hour
Alarm Clock: 16.44 cents per month per clock
Dishwasher: 16.55 cents per load (Energy Star certified dishwasher)
1 100 watt light bulb: .761 cents per hour ($5.48 per month if left on 24/7) (the new funky looking energy efficient lights cut your costs by about 75%)
Refrigerator: $13.71 per month
Deep Freeze: It looks like it is costing me around $6.10 per month to keep my turkey, waffles, mysterious item in tupperware, pizzas, and popsicles frozen. Bummer.
Basically, with electricity, every little bit adds up. This morning I discovered this website: http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/ This guy has done WAY more work on this than I will ever do. Also, he has great mad scientist hair.
Friday, July 9, 2010
So, I was curious how much I have been shelling out to Xcel Energy for my deep freeze each month...
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Well, that solves it. I'm giving up my alarm clock for good. Carbon neutral.
ReplyDeleteSo, I have a beer fridge in the garage. In addition to the beer, I should find out how much that is costing me, need to borrow your toy sometime.
ReplyDeleteMaybe next time we have lunch you can do a spreadsheet on whether I looked like a loser eating all alone after you got up and left with your entre to go!
ReplyDeleteBrad