Author Topic: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?  (Read 240090 times)

MindOverMatter

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #700 on: June 17, 2018, 08:18:01 PM »
Do you have a smart meter, where the electricity company tracks  your usage hourly?
Those are some good suggestions for tracking. The meters are electric but I'm not sure where mine is exactly, I'll have to ask the building maintenance. I've ordered a kill-a-watt meter to start tracking different things.

DreamFIRE

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #701 on: June 17, 2018, 08:40:18 PM »
About 40% of my electric bill is the facilities charge just to have it hooked up.  That's just for electricity, not other utilities.

PC2K

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #702 on: June 18, 2018, 03:22:17 AM »
Got my yearly bill Saturday. I'm Dutch and here you pay the expected yearly usage divide by 12 a month (smooths out the seasons). After a year they check the expected with actual usages and you either have to pay or get money back depending on the actual usages. I switched from power company last year and if i stayed for a year i would get a €200 bonus. End result: Getting back €475,02; actual energy costs with the bonus retracted: €39,72 for the year.



LennStar

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #703 on: June 18, 2018, 05:29:58 AM »
I just got my electric bill in... I live in an 850sq ft apartment and last month used 564kw of electricity! I think it's because it is summer. I live in Maryland. The range monthly is between 300-600kw.

I have a computer that is fairly heavy duty that runs a lot but I can't imagine it uses that much. Then again it's a 750w power supply, plus a bunch of external HDs and a NAS.

All my bulbs are LED except for a few up in the ceiling that I need a ladder to change (I haven't yet because it would involve buying said ladder). I also have two florescent bulbs (w/ ballast) in the kitchen that runs pretty much constantly.

I use my dryer maybe ~3 hours a month. I know I could save by having a clothes rack, but there really isn't space. My hot water heater and range are run by natural gas.

A/C is set at 82 during the summer months daytime, and only turns on (down to 75-76) at night.

I'm honestly not sure where all the electricity use is going. Anyone have suggestions?

Get a 7€ cheapo electric meter to put between the wall socket and your cables.
Start the engines.
Look at it.

If your computer is heavy duty and runs the whole day it can easily reach 200kWh a month. 200kWh the climate has to cool down again...


Zola.

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #704 on: June 21, 2018, 02:03:17 AM »
Our electric bills are £32 a month, which is pretty cheap (I pay them by direct debit every month and get 3% cashback in my account too)..

We use the electric shower daily, appliances etc etc. However, I make a point of switching the tv and other devices off at the wall switch when done, it only takes a second.

Appliances left on stand by can really add to your bill, switching them off kills the bill.

nnls

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #705 on: June 21, 2018, 02:42:06 AM »
I live by myself, and am away from home a lot for work. I use on average (according to my bills) 2.8421 kWh last bill cycle, which was April-May, so Autumn in Perth

Alfred J Quack

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #706 on: June 22, 2018, 02:10:32 AM »
Our electric bills are £32 a month, which is pretty cheap (I pay them by direct debit every month and get 3% cashback in my account too)..

We use the electric shower daily, appliances etc etc. However, I make a point of switching the tv and other devices off at the wall switch when done, it only takes a second.

Appliances left on stand by can really add to your bill, switching them off kills the bill.

We have a smart meter which we can read with a PC. Based on our usage we have about 32watts of continuous usage of devices on standby, smartphone chargers etc.
If I have the laptop connected this jumps to 40 watts continuous. So I disconnected the laptop when it's charged.

Not my TV though,  because it loses a part of its settings (like use external speakers in stead of internal, use DVB-arial in stead of cable connector). We don't have cable and only have 4 free to air channels, which we rarely use because of the Chromecast ;)

We also have a electric water heater (tankless) for hot water, 13 kilowatts of glorious hot water supply. And more efficient than the  120litre tank we had before which was always cold at the wrong moment ;)

grantmeaname

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #707 on: June 22, 2018, 03:53:54 AM »
Doesn't that mean your laptop costs you like $5 per year to charge? Seems low and definitely seems not worth unplugging it every day for.

PC2K

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #708 on: June 22, 2018, 04:17:37 AM »
Doesn't that mean your laptop costs you like $5 per year to charge? Seems low and definitely seems not worth unplugging it every day for.

But that would be 1/8 of my yearly energy bill. I just flip the switch on a powerstrip. Also feels safer...

MrSal

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #709 on: June 22, 2018, 08:20:56 AM »
Doesn't that mean your laptop costs you like $5 per year to charge? Seems low and definitely seems not worth unplugging it every day for.

Probably... laptops compared to desktops are super efficient! 10 W is very likely when the thing is on ... It;s ridiculously low! I have a desktop and when on it probably is using 10-15x that!

I think once my Desktop goes I will go laptop - a good one. I hate laptops though... but a few months ago I found this:



why the hell didn;'t i ever think of this... in essence it still looks good as a desktop but still have the flexibility to take the laptop with you!

grantmeaname

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #710 on: June 22, 2018, 11:01:17 AM »
Doesn't that mean your laptop costs you like $5 per year to charge? Seems low and definitely seems not worth unplugging it every day for.

But that would be 1/8 of my yearly energy bill. I just flip the switch on a powerstrip. Also feels safer...
5/year is 1% of your energy bill.

grantmeaname

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #711 on: June 22, 2018, 11:03:39 AM »
Doesn't that mean your laptop costs you like $5 per year to charge? Seems low and definitely seems not worth unplugging it every day for.

Probably... laptops compared to desktops are super efficient! 10 W is very likely when the thing is on ... It;s ridiculously low! I have a desktop and when on it probably is using 10-15x that!

I think once my Desktop goes I will go laptop - a good one. I hate laptops though... but a few months ago I found this:



why the hell didn;'t i ever think of this... in essence it still looks good as a desktop but still have the flexibility to take the laptop with you!
You also still pay the premium for a laptop and your components still die sooner from the higher heat (potentially much sooner if the laptop vents through the keyboard, as it will be even hotter closed than open).

MrSal

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #712 on: June 22, 2018, 11:42:12 AM »
that's true too. I paid 700 for mine I think and it was top of line 4 years ago... 16Gb RAM, SSD disks ... a good power supply etc... still works super fast but I am sure its becoming obsolete. i can still do my things on photoshop and things like that and run data intensive programs

grantmeaname

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #713 on: June 22, 2018, 05:20:32 PM »
If it does everything you need it to, it's not obsolete. :)

Alf91

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #714 on: June 22, 2018, 06:16:44 PM »
My usage is around 3 kwh / day in the spring and fall. Goes up to about 6-7 kwh in the summer due to A/C, and in the winter due to heater.

BMW Jalopy

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #715 on: June 27, 2018, 12:50:12 PM »
Why? It's 115F outside.

GuitarStv

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #716 on: July 01, 2018, 03:30:30 PM »
Why? It's 115F outside.

Yeah, heat is a thing.  With the humidex it's in the low to mid 40s (104-115 F for the backwards among us) all week.  I try not to be a weenie about stuff . . . I did a 100 km bike ride today in the heat, and then spent the rest of the day sweltering on the patio in the shade and reading . . . but I'll be turning on the AC tonight to sleep.  It's too uncomfy otherwise.