Tips for Monitoring Home Electrical Usage

The normal household these days is full of appliances, gadgets and other items that use electricity. Once was the day that the item that used the most electricity in the house was the refrigerator, and the second offender was the washing machine or electric oven. Today, however, I would have to say that the biggest electricity consumer in the house is computers. My claim of the computer as the largest user of energy is mostly based on the statistic that in many homes, each person has their own computer. No longer does the family fight over who is using the computer, the fight has shifted to who is using the most bandwidth...this is a whole other story that needs to be addressed in a future article.

Our computers are not the only devices using a lot of energy, we have out iPods, or MP3 players, out DVD units, TVs (where it seems we have one in every room nowadays), phones, gaming consoles and the list goes on and on. With so many things needing power today, how does someone begin to sort out the highest offending items to find ways of modifying behavior trends in order to lower ones overall dependence on electricity?

One easy solution is to just unplug everything, however this does not really solve the problem because when you turn on the computer to go pay the electric bill, you will need to charge you iPhone in order to retrieve your password to the electrical company and before you know it all your devices are back online and safely consuming power once again.

Advances in technology have brought about a number of different products that will help you monitor your power usage. The basics of the different systems are very similar. One attaches a Wi-Fi device to the power meter (most systems do not require any specialized installation or an electrician. The device then transmits data 24x7 allowing the end consumer the ability to logon to a web site and see their usage. Most software will allow you to graph your usage so one can identify usage patterns.

Perhaps for example you see that your AC unit comes on every 2 or 3 hours during the day, but there is no one home. One can see the spikes when the AC is on, and then make adjustments. You might install a programmable thermostat where you can set limitations or schedules. If you know that the first family member is going to be home around 4pm, then at 3:30 you can program the AC unit to come on and cool the house down, avoiding the other 3 or 3 times that it came on during the day. This will allow you to save money, while still ensuring that the house is at a comfortable temperature range when family members arrive home.

Most of the devices out there will just monitor your power consumption. It is still up to the consumer (you) to make changes. But these devices do help to show you how much you can save. One nice feature that most units have is a cost analysis. When you are looking at your power consumption the software will calculate how much this is costing you per minute. One can get a real sense of savings by looking at the monthly and yearly savings that would occur by unplugging one device.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20011646-54.html

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/12/powercost_home.php

http://www.powermeterstore.com/c628/home_energy_monitor_kits.php