1 00:00:00,520 --> 00:00:06,040 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff from houset dot com where smart happens. Hi. 2 00:00:06,120 --> 00:00:09,800 Speaker 1: I'm Marshall Brain with today's question why are my power 3 00:00:09,800 --> 00:00:14,680 Speaker 1: bills so high? Which appliances used the most power? If 4 00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:17,440 Speaker 1: you were to make a chart of the electricity consuming 5 00:00:17,480 --> 00:00:20,680 Speaker 1: devices in a typical American home and rank them in 6 00:00:20,920 --> 00:00:24,040 Speaker 1: order of their hunger for power, the list might look 7 00:00:24,120 --> 00:00:27,160 Speaker 1: something like this. At the top, there would be things 8 00:00:27,200 --> 00:00:31,240 Speaker 1: like heat pumps and central air conditioning. They might consume 9 00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:35,560 Speaker 1: fifteen thousand watts. A water heater or a clothes dryer 10 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:39,400 Speaker 1: can consume four thousand watts if they're electric. A space 11 00:00:39,479 --> 00:00:42,480 Speaker 1: heater or a hair dryer consumes a thousand or twelve 12 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:46,280 Speaker 1: hundred wats. A refrigerator might consume seven hundred to a 13 00:00:46,320 --> 00:00:50,600 Speaker 1: thousand watts. A computer and a monitor might consume three 14 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:54,400 Speaker 1: hundred watts. And then there's compact fluorescent light bulbs, which 15 00:00:54,480 --> 00:00:59,040 Speaker 1: might consume fifteen watts. So if your house has electric heat, 16 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:01,560 Speaker 1: then the middle of winter is a time when you're 17 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:04,520 Speaker 1: gonna be using a lot of power. A heat pump 18 00:01:04,640 --> 00:01:07,640 Speaker 1: might run ten to fifteen hours a day. If you 19 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:11,760 Speaker 1: assume electricity costs a dime per kilowatt hour, you could 20 00:01:11,800 --> 00:01:15,360 Speaker 1: spend twenty dollars a day just to run the heat 21 00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:18,480 Speaker 1: pump over the course of a month. That's several hundred 22 00:01:18,560 --> 00:01:21,720 Speaker 1: dollars worth of electricity. The same applies in the summer 23 00:01:21,760 --> 00:01:24,880 Speaker 1: if you use the air conditioner a lot. Water heating 24 00:01:24,959 --> 00:01:27,479 Speaker 1: uses a good bit of power as well. When you 25 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:30,039 Speaker 1: take a shower or run a load of clothes in 26 00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:33,319 Speaker 1: the washer, the electric water heater might run for an 27 00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:37,560 Speaker 1: hour reheating the water in the tank. That's forty cents. 28 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:41,040 Speaker 1: A typical household can burn several dollars a day just 29 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:44,640 Speaker 1: heating water. Because we don't normally think of it this way, 30 00:01:44,920 --> 00:01:48,480 Speaker 1: it's funny to consider that every shower you take costs 31 00:01:48,560 --> 00:01:51,560 Speaker 1: forty cents. When you add in the cost of washing 32 00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:54,320 Speaker 1: and drying the towels. Every load of clothes that you 33 00:01:54,400 --> 00:01:57,160 Speaker 1: run might cost a dollar or two dollars for washing 34 00:01:57,200 --> 00:02:00,480 Speaker 1: and drying, plus the soap and shampoo you you it 35 00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:03,120 Speaker 1: can cost nearly a buck just to take a shower. 36 00:02:03,720 --> 00:02:07,520 Speaker 1: Refrigeration is another big power drain because the refrigerator can 37 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:11,160 Speaker 1: easily run for ten hours a day. That's a dollar 38 00:02:11,240 --> 00:02:13,720 Speaker 1: per day just to keep the melt cold. If you 39 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:16,120 Speaker 1: leave the computer or TV on all day. It can 40 00:02:16,160 --> 00:02:19,040 Speaker 1: add up to a dollar per day as well. Compared 41 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:22,560 Speaker 1: to these big consumers, compact thruscent light bulbs don't even 42 00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:25,920 Speaker 1: show up on the radar. Using a space heater or 43 00:02:25,919 --> 00:02:28,600 Speaker 1: an electric blanket so that you can turn down the 44 00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:31,680 Speaker 1: furnace at night is probably the easiest way to save 45 00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:35,000 Speaker 1: big on your power bill. Saving hot water is the 46 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:38,640 Speaker 1: next easiest. Do you have any ideas or suggestions for 47 00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:41,680 Speaker 1: this podcast? If so, please send me an email at 48 00:02:41,760 --> 00:02:44,880 Speaker 1: podcast at how stuff works dot com. For more on 49 00:02:44,919 --> 00:02:47,280 Speaker 1: this and thousands of other topics, go to how stuff 50 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:50,040 Speaker 1: works dot com and be sure to check out the 51 00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:52,520 Speaker 1: brain stuff blog on the house stuff works dot com 52 00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:53,120 Speaker 1: home page.