What Devices Consume the Most Energy in Your Home
What Devices Consume the Most Energy in Your Home
The heating and air conditioning systems are responsible for over half the electricity and energy consumption in a house. Nevertheless, it goes without saying that with higher overall energy consumption, the cost of the monthly energy bill tends to increase. So, it is important that we talk about energy consuming home appliances.
Here, we will also tell you about the vampire appliances that continue to suck in electricity even when turned off. In addition, we will try to figure out how to save your electricity costs.
- Heaters
Your home heating system is the answer if you want to know about the biggest users of electricity in your home. In various reports of the U.S. Energy Information Administration and the United States Environmental Protection Agency or EPA, it is said that the highest percentage of energy consumption in the US households results from space heating. The percentage of energy consumption in residential buildings can further go up if there are unfixed insulation issues.
RELATED ARTICLE: Basement Insulation and Air Sealing
- Water Heating Appliances
A distant second, water heating appliances are responsible for huge energy consumption in your house. According to Energy Saver, around 20% of any residential home’s energy consumption is done by water heaters. Many homeowners use water heaters for showering, dishwashing, laundry, and other purposes. However, to reduce the energy consumption of water heaters, you can opt for tankless and/or heat pump variations. Tankless water heaters make water heated only when there is a requirement instead of heating water all through the day. Heat pump water heaters can capture heat from the surrounding environment and use this to warm the water and thus consume less energy.
- Appliances for Cooling
Cooling appliances secure the third spot if you want to know what home devices use the most electricity. In the Annual Energy Outlook 2022 report of the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the use of electricity by cooling appliances in homes was around 16% of the whole residential electrical energy consumption in the US during 2021. However, depending on the climate of your locality and the temperature of your outdoor air, the use of energy consumption by cooling appliances can vary.
- Lighting
EIA says that 5 to 7% of energy consumption in a household happens due to lighting setups. However, you can easily cut down the energy consumption by lighting amenities by consulting an electrical contractor near you. They can help you by replacing the existing setup with LED and smart bulbs.
- Refrigerators
As per the EIA, energy consumption by refrigerators constitutes 3-5% of energy consumption in average US households. Experts say that despite the relatively energy consumption of refrigerators per hour, these are one of the most energy consuming home appliances because they run for constantly.
- Washer and Dryer
As a homeowner, you can probably guess that washers and dryers do around 3.2% of the monthly electricity consumption of your house. However, the amount of consumption can differ from one house to another depending on how often these laundry appliances are used. In addition, if you are using hot water for washers and dryers, the amount of energy consumption need to be factored in.
- Electric Oven
Electric ovens will surely be on the list if you want to know what appliances use the most electricity in your home. These appliances consume around 3% of the total energy used by an average US household every month.
Other appliances consuming the most amount of energy in a household are home entertainment equipment, various kitchen appliances, computers, boiler circulation pumps, furnace fans, etc.
Knowing About Vampire Appliances
If you want to know about energy consuming home appliances, you need to have an understanding vampire appliances. Vampire appliances continue to consume electricity even when they are not performing their functions or switched off. Some of the most commonly used vampire appliances in residential buildings are microwaves, televisions, computers, printers, set-top boxes, central heating furnaces, DVD/VCR, furnaces for central heating, gaming consoles, routers & modem, and phones.
However, with a little awareness, you can reduce energy consumption by these vampire appliances. You can pull the plug from the socket when the appliances are not being used. Also, you can connect some of these devices to a power strip which can be turned off when you are not using it. Further, you can purchase Energy Star appliances that use very less power in standby mode. Moreover, you can get an energy audit done in your home to learn about old and inefficient appliances.
How to Save Your Electricity Costs
- Go for Smart Appliances
Using smart appliances will help you to get rid of excessive energy consumption because these appliances come with the provision for monitoring the use of electricity. Further, they get turned off when you are not using them. Installing smart outlets and appliances will also help you eliminate the hassle of constantly switching on and switching off the plugs. So, if you have old and inefficient home appliances, replace them with smart appliances.
- Purchase Energy Star Appliances
The Energy Star Program was started by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the year 1992. This program has been helping homeowners reduce the amount of energy used by each appliance. So, even if these appliances are a little costlier upfront, its important to keep in mind that appliances with an Energy Star rating are energy efficient and use less energy than other appliances.
- Make Use of the Timers and Inbuilt Energy Saving Capacity of Appliances
Many appliances like heaters, air conditioners, and televisions come with integrated energy-saving features. For example, you can set the timer in your air conditioning system or use the standby mode on your computer to lessen the use of electricity.
- Get a Home Energy Audit
If the insulation of your house is perfect, the energy consumption of your house will go down. But how does a homeowner know whether your house’s insulation is working properly? You can easily find the efficiency of your home insulation system by getting an energy audit conducted. Many states in the US offer free energy audits in homes.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, now you have fair ideas about what home devices use the most electricity. We have also discussed vampire appliances and how you can reduce energy consumption with some smart practices. So, it’s time to keep a check on the duration for which you use the most energy-intensive appliances and get the inefficient or more energy-consuming appliances with smart and energy-efficient appliances.
