I never should've watched that movie... One of the scariest movies I've seen - it ranks right up there between "The Birds" and "Hannibal". I'm talking about the Inconvenient Truth, and it freaked me out. So, with the new house, we've been planning all sorts of energy saving renovations (new windows, heat pump for heating/cooling, insulation). We even had our Energy Trust of Oregon Energy Review. The guy told me that getting new windows would be idiotic, but our wall insulation sucks, and the electric furnace needs to be dumped (oops, I mean "recycled"). Also, water heater temperature should be turned down, incandescent lights should be replaced with compact fluorescent lights etc.
As part of our energy saving mania, I got a new toy, Kill A Watt. It's nothing else but a power meter you plug in series with your whichever electrical gadgets, and it tells you how much power they consume. Tons of fun. One surprising discovery: our coffee maker burns about 900W when it's brewing! I guess it makes sense; I just never thought about it. Gotta have my coffee fix, though - do I have to start going to Starbucks now?
The energy review guy also said that, in regular houses, there are three items that consume most of the energy: heating/cooling, water heating, and the fridge. So, Kill A Watt had some work to do: I had it plugged in with the fridge for almost a week, to figure out how much that #3 energy hog is actually hogging. The result: 57.4W (6-day average)...?! A single incandescent bulb, left on somewhere in the storage shed would burn more than that!
I'm pretty sure our computers have claimed the bronze metal in this race... or have they? Does our house fall into the "regular" category at all? More data is needed... so, Sara's computer is now plugged in with the Kill A Watt. We'll see how it goes.
As part of our energy saving mania, I got a new toy, Kill A Watt. It's nothing else but a power meter you plug in series with your whichever electrical gadgets, and it tells you how much power they consume. Tons of fun. One surprising discovery: our coffee maker burns about 900W when it's brewing! I guess it makes sense; I just never thought about it. Gotta have my coffee fix, though - do I have to start going to Starbucks now?The energy review guy also said that, in regular houses, there are three items that consume most of the energy: heating/cooling, water heating, and the fridge. So, Kill A Watt had some work to do: I had it plugged in with the fridge for almost a week, to figure out how much that #3 energy hog is actually hogging. The result: 57.4W (6-day average)...?! A single incandescent bulb, left on somewhere in the storage shed would burn more than that!
I'm pretty sure our computers have claimed the bronze metal in this race... or have they? Does our house fall into the "regular" category at all? More data is needed... so, Sara's computer is now plugged in with the Kill A Watt. We'll see how it goes.
5 comments:
Sami (a.k.a Bonner Beste), when I saw the title of your latest "scariest" movie, you I laughed. I must repeat to you that some of those "facts" or "truths" were doctored (according to the New York Times, and CNN coverage). :S
However, I do not believe it is totally incorrect.
I did watch the movie, except I only watched about 30minutes of the ending.
I think it's a good idea to do what you're doing; but at the same time, I don't think waste is always bad.
Continuing....
That movie isn't scary!
I should let you borrow Cannibal Holocaust, that movie is scary or at least messed up.
Starbucks is a bad investment on a daily or sub-daily basis. Try to figure out the cost of a watt per dollar, and then decide if it's worth going to Starbucks if you really must do it.
You & Sara are doing better than most people as far as recycling is concerned, in my opinion. All I do is the Beaverton Red Bag program. Everything else is washed and thrown away.
Keep us posted, and POST A FRICK'N PICTURE OF YO' KILL'A WATT!
Ok, I've added a picture of the killer.
hmm. well, that's interesting and all... but what do you do when you figure out that your computer/refridgerator/hotwater heater, etc. is 'hogging' electricity. It isn't as if I'm going to stop using those things...??
oh.. it's me becca... not anon.
We can turn off the PCs for the night (right now we don't), turn down the thermostat in the water heater (or use a timer), replace the electric furnace with a heat pump... This is mostly for figuring out if there are some big problems that we can fix easily.
Our main "hog" is the fact that the house leaks heat like crazy. Fixing that might cut our $200/month power bill by 50% or so, and shouldn't cost too much.
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