How much is 4kWh?
Expectation
Given the challenge of reducing my electricity consumption didn’t seem quite a challenge, I started thinking what could I do to achieve that. I thought: turning off lightbulbs and not using the A/C (but it’s not too hot these days either way), easy. Then the epiphany came… I can stop using my hair trimmer! I’ll use scissors instead, why not? That thing should use a lot of energy.
Ok, I have my strategy, but I also have a specific goal: 4kWh a day. How much am I even missing to get to 4 kilowatts a day? How could I even know what a kilowatt per hour means? So I started with a list of all the devices I use:
How much do these devices consume? I started investigating, noted down some numbers, but websites had different information about each device so I didn’t even know what to believe. Other websites recommended looking at the device itself, the manual or any energy compliance sticker they might have. I did a house tour looking for this information and finally got all of my devices consumption and I registered it to get a better picture.
Reality
Well… the hair clipper is one of the least consuming devices –I’ll keep using it–, the stove consumes a lot and I have my laptop connected way too much time. Interesting findings. I started thinking what I could use less or stop using.
I selected a list of devices and estimated the reduction for each device and overall.
This is what I will test:
- Unplugging my phone right after it is charged.
- Unplugging my laptop right after it is charged (instead of working all the time with it plugged in).
- Turning off my laptop instead of just leaving it in sleep mode.
- Unplugging the washing machine and microwave to avoid standby consumption.
- Stop using two burners on the stove, I think I can use just one and optimize what I cook.
- Stop using the stove extractor, I have a window next to it, I can open it.
In theory, with this I will reduce my consumption from 5.29 kW to 3.81 kW a day.
