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Saturday, November 28, 2009

How much does it cost to run my kitchen appliances?

Just a simple decision of how you cook your food can save you a significant amount of money on your utility bills.  How much you exactly save depends on what your utility company charges per kWh of electricity, which can vary depending on where you live,  the time of year, and/or the time of day.  Below is a map of some average electricity prices across the United States.

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I fortunately live in WA where electricity prices are quite low (6.31 cents per kWh) but the decision on which appliance to use should still be the same if you live in New York or Hawaii.

Kitchen appliances are measured in wattage which is a product of the voltage and current requires to run the appliance.  So if you have a 120V appliance which ran 0.5 amps of electricity it would have a wattage of 60 watts (i.e. 60W light bulb)  By looking at the various wattages of kitchen appliances we can determine the cost to run each of them.  Below are my calculations of this below:

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So looking at this chart you should be able to determine that you should be using your microwave to boil the hot water for your tea in the microwave for 2 minutes versus using the stovetop which could take 3 times as long as using the stovetop using over 3 times the energy and money. 

Another interesting revelation is cooking a roast in a Crockpot for 4-5 hours saves 2700 watts of electricity or a little over $0.16, sure this is just pennies but doing so over a year can save nearly $60 as well as help your carbon footprint.

6 comments:

Florence Carole said...

I'm from California and the electricity prices are not expensive. A dishwasher uses more wattage than a refrigerator. Does this depend on the brand of appliances you are using?

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kitchen remodeling nyc said...

Choose energy-efficient appliances in your kitchen.

certified kitchen designer said...

Our family are all about saving money when we decided to buy green appliances for our kitchen. Think of the amount you can save for a year if you are using an energy-efficient refrigerator.

garage doors perth said...

The garage is the last place homeowners think they can save energy, but it's easy to make it energy efficient. You can save utility bills by bringing more natural lighting into the garage or adding windows.

handmade kitchens suffolk said...

Thank you for sharing this figures, it's really important to know this.

kitchen remodeling nyc said...

I think that everybody should know this. Thanks.