Print this page

Electricity Savings by the Numbers

September 26, 2012 Written by  Comments Print
Rate this item
(0 votes)

 

Wondering what the big deal is about energy savings? Want to know how much it actually helps just to change the types of light bulbs we use? Well, the results might surprise you and your wallet. The average home running off incandescent light bulbs currently uses 936 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity per month. That’s a total of 11,232 kWh per year. Since the average price of electricity is $.10 to $.11 per kWh, that's about $1,235 a year you pay in energy costs.

Now, if you’re using energy efficient lighting such as CFLs, they’ll save you money on your monthly electricity bill and help the environment. According the EnergyStar.gov, CFLs last about 10,000 hours, and a single 15 watt bulb costs on average about $2.98. A 15 watt bulb also produces as much light as a conventional 65 watt bulb. Now that’s energy efficiency! Depending on the amount of your household use, each bulb can save you up to $30 in energy costs over the life of the bulb. **Please note factors such as size of the house, number of outlets, duration of lights on, etc. are all factors in your total energy consumption and electric bill data.**

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says that by replacing regular light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs at the same minimal rate, Americans would save enough energy to light more than 2.5 million homes for a year.

As energy efficiency experts, we’re helping to save money on electricity bills in and around Columbia, Maryland. So much that we could run nearly 500 homes for a whole year. Since 2011, we have helped more than 20,000 homeowners save 11,983,191 kWh of electricity to date!

If you’re looking to become more informed about your home energy use, here’s a list of appliances and just how much energy they use.

  • A 12 cubic foot refrigerator uses on average about 800 kWh per year.
  • A three-ton central air conditioning system uses about 2,500 kWh per year.
  • A clothes dryer (running four hours per week) uses about 1,000 kWh per year.
  • Lighting for five rooms uses on average about 1,000 kWh per year.
  • A color television (running six hours a day) uses about 600 kWh per year.
  • A personal computer (running 10 hours a day) uses 150 kWh per year.
  • It will cost you $1.36 to charge an iPad for a year. 

Check out our infographic below on electricity savings generated by greeNEWit. Click the link to view last week's blog post Ease the Pain of High Energy Bills or check back next week for more helpful tips on ways to greeNEWit.

electricity-usage-infographic