other than the a/c and the fridge, what else consumes the most power?

[kreactor]

my electric bill is like 65$ on avg w/ 2 pc on 24/7

trying to cut down by using flourescent bulbs and lcds

 

[dighn]

oven/stove if electrically powered

 

[ironcrotch]

Try turning off the computers every night for a month and see if that makes a diff.

 

[olds]

Mines over $275 a month for electric.
Gas is about $50

 

[Colt45]

water heater, if electric

 

[MustangSVT]

shutdown EVERYTHING!

 

[FoBoT]

water heater, you can turn it down to 120F

 

[aplefka]

Washer/dryer

 

[Sentinel]

prob just be the amount of lights and such. pc? barely notice that, around $2-3 a month

 

[kreactor]

over has electronic lighter/igniter but is gas powered

methinks the laser in the dvd writer must be the culprit, to amass enough power for the death ray
burn about 50 dvd/month

 

[The Stigenator]

in my case the electric water heater.

 

[Kadarin]

Heh.. my home theater powering up causes the lights to dim briefly..

 

[Colt45]

Originally posted by: Astaroth33
Heh.. my home theater powering up causes the lights to dim briefly..

My home theater causes the whole neighbourhood to brownout

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: kreactor

my electric bill is like 65$ on avg w/ 2 pc on 24/7

trying to cut down by using flourescent bulbs and lcds

how much per kilowatt hour?

 

[saltedeggman]

65.00 a month isn't bad at all

is this with heating/ac?

 

[newParadigm]

Dude, our electric company is gay, they base your next months pay on the average of the last twelve months, so if you start using a lot less power it take like 6mos for you bill to go down.

Lcd's, get a mobile proc and don't OC it much (keep Voltage down), turn off ac, get all flrouescnat bubls less elec and the last longer, umm microwave?

Open the blinds/shades instaed of using electric light. Get a gas stove/heat. Don't turn the A/C on and off through out the summer, maintain your house at a certain temperature, otherwise the a/c has to work really hard to get it back cool whenever yoru put it on, and you dont save much $$$.

 

[Eli]

Actually, our fridge doesen't use very much power at all... And it is an older model. Just the regular kind.. small square freezer on top.

I was quite surprised.

It used about 100kWh a month, or about 8$/mo at our rate of $0.08/kWh.

It draws ~220 watts while running, and 29W while off.

Conversely, my computer draws a minimum of 160kWh/mo.. assuming 100% idle time, which obviously doesen't happen.

15" CRT is 85W.

Mobile AthlonXP/2600+ @ 2.4GHz, 768mb ram, and 5x HDD uses 136W idle and 168W at 100% CPU.

So depending on where you live, it could be anywhere from $10 - 25+/mo... (0.06 - 0.18/kWh), assuming similar computer specs.

 

[calyco]

I switched from a 24/7 running desktop to a laptop, bill dropped $20.

 

[vegetation]

Originally posted by: deviant03
I switched from a 24/7 running desktop to a laptop, bill dropped $20.

Makes sense. Laptops usually consume less than 25 watts, including the screen powered up. My HP Centrino 15" laptop only uses 18 watts at idle. Desktop rigs take at least 60-80 watts idling (P4-2.0ghz, integrated grphx, one drive) plus you need power for an external display, of which even an LCD 15" panel would take about 30 watts.

 

[cavemanmoron]

Originally posted by: Colt45
water heater, if electric

monitor and puter

tv
stereo

a/c

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: cavemanmoron

Originally posted by: Colt45
water heater, if electric

monitor and puter

tv
stereo

a/c

My old 18"? Toshiba TV uses 70W.

 

[KMurphy]

Originally posted by: newParadime
Dude, our electric company is gay, they base your next months pay on the average of the last twelve months, so if you start using a lot less power it take like 6mos for you bill to go down.

Maybe when you grow up and start paying the bills; you'll see the advantage of having a near constant electric bill every month. This allows people to budget for the next month and also moderates the cost of peak usage; especially those with electric heat in the winter.

 

[Zugzwang152]

Originally posted by: Colt45
water heater, if electric

 

[newParadigm]

Originally posted by: KMurphy

Originally posted by: newParadime
Dude, our electric company is gay, they base your next months pay on the average of the last twelve months, so if you start using a lot less power it take like 6mos for you bill to go down.

Maybe when you grow up and start paying the bills; you'll see the advantage of having a near constant electric bill every month. This allows people to budget for the next month and also moderates the cost of peak usage; especially those with electric heat in the winter.

Umm, yeah, but we went thoruhg our whole house and had energy savers, or some energy company replace windows redo insulation and stuff, cause our electric bill was really high. It ended up dropping by like 30%, but it took a while. Plus we have gas heat. And the only time it would spike is when we turno on the A/c.

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: kreactor

my electric bill is like 65$ on avg w/ 2 pc on 24/7

trying to cut down by using flourescent bulbs and lcds

65 a month is a cheap electric bill. Ours is 80 something in the winter, 200 something in the summer. Phoenix summers are very toasty.