With the ever-growing cost of electricity, you may be one of the many people who are searching for effective ways to reduce your energy costs. You may also find it frustrating that your conscientious efforts aren’t paying off the way you hoped.
If you want to reduce your energy costs, you must figure out what is costing you. There are energy stealers in your home you may not even be aware of. Keep reading to learn what some of the biggest energy stealers are here.
Remote Ready Items Leaking Electricity in Your Home
For an appliance to receive a remote-control signal, electricity must be “on alert.” In some situations, the energy that is used when something is “off” is almost as much as the amount used when it is “on.”
The most common standby energy stealers that are remote ready include:
- Your garage door opener – 7.3 watts
- Televisions – 48.5 watts (each)
- Video game console – 63.74 watts (while turned off, but ready to use)
- Stereos – 5.44 watts
- Cable boxes – 30.6 watts
- Blu-Ray or DVC players – 43.61 watts
Non-Remote Energy Thieves
Another category of energy leaches is those that aren’t controlled with a remote. While this is true, they will still waste electricity. Unfortunately, there isn’t too much you can do about these, as they are needed regularly.
- Microwave with a clock – 4.9 watts
- Wireless phone – 4.89 watts
- Cable modems – 4.89 watts
Less Known Energy Menaces
There are several other electricity thieves in your home, too. These are some appliances that you would not expect to use this electricity while turned off and not charging anything. They include:
- A laptop plugged in but not charging – 50 watts
- Cell phone chargers – 1 watt
- Desktop computers in sleep mode – 83.3 watts
- Surge protectors – 6.3 watts
- Night lights (turned off) – 0.34 watts
- Gas ranges – 1.7 watts
- Musical instruments – 4.2 watts
- Coffee maker – 2.7 watts
- Air conditioner – 1 watt
- Furnace – 9.8 watts
- Ink jet printer – 4 watts
Tips to Eliminate Electrical Leaks and Wasted Energy in Your Home
There are several ways that you can reduce the electricity that is used on these products. One of the first things you need to do is to figure out the amount of electricity that you are wasting. You may need to schedule a whole-house energy audit with the professionals to do this.
Another step is to get rid of the biggest energy wasters. With a surge protector, you can eliminate the flow of electricity to your televisions (which is a huge energy waster – see above). You can also just unplug the item when you are leaving the house or if you aren’t going to be playing it.
If you want to ensure that your home is as energy efficient as possible, use the tips and information here. You can also work with the pros by contacting Beebe HVAC to reduce your month-to-month energy costs. They will be able to help you find energy wasters and find solutions to reduce the energy they are consuming. This is going to help you save a lot of money throughout the year.