Hyperwatting the House

[knowbodies]

I spent some quality time with my Kill-a-watt this week. It's been a while since I last used I figured I would do another audit and see where I could further reduce my electricity usage. Currently we use about 300KWh per month for a family of four. I would like to see if we can get it down to 250KWh per month. I'm not sure if I can do it but I think I can get close.

I started of with the easy stuff - lighting. My electrical company just sent out a free CFL to every customer so I replaced the the light bulb on my front porch. There's a Street light just outside my house that provides plenty of light so we rarely turn that light on. I'm not going to save much but it was a free light bulb and all my other incandescents have already been replaced. Next I looked at the 2 lights that get used the most, a 3 * 13W fixture in the kitchen and a halogen torchiere in the living room. Combined these two lights use 189W for about 6 hours a day. I replaced them with dimmable flourescent torchiere in the living and a small 13W lamp on the kitchen table - a total of 29W. That should bring my usage down by ( 150W * 6 hours/day * 30days/month ) 27KWh per month. I'm getting close but I still have 23KWh to go.

Next I looked at my computer room. A server, a desktop, a switch, 2 modems (yes, I need 2 modems), a small Cisco lab, speaker system and 2 monitors. The Cisco lab is already on it's own power bar which is usually off - no savings to be had there. The 2 modems, the switch and the server need to be on 24/7 - no saving there. I was able to move my desktop, both monitors and speakers on a separate power. Amazingly, these devices use 20W when off. I keep this power bar turned off for about 18 hours per day for a reduction of (20W * 18hrs/day * 30 days/month) 10.8KWh per month.

I still need to eliminate ~12KWh per month to hit my goal. I still have to look at the family computer (and associated electronics) and the entertainment center. A couple of smart power strips may be able to knock it down. I'll probably try that *just because* but it will have to wait for a quiet weekend when the wife and kids are gone.