Busted! These Are The Appliances That Cost You The Most Energy

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If you’re familiar with our Bright Insights blog, then you are no doubt aware of the importance of purchasing energy efficient appliances! But you might be asking yourself: How do I choose between two different appliances? This knowledge is important to have so that you can make the best choices for improving the energy efficiency of your home.

Luckily, there are a few easy ways to determine which of your appliances is the most energy hungry!

One option is tracking how much you use your appliances and then comparing that data with your energy bill to see any patterns. You can manually calculate how much energy each of your appliances uses by plugging information about your appliances into an equation—we wrote a past blog about this if you’re interested!

However, if you don’t have the time to do a lot of math, you can follow some common rules of thumb to determine your home’s priciest appliances. Keep in mind, however, that not having specifics will only get you so far.

Costly Appliances

According to a study by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, these are the appliances in your home that will consume the most energy in a given year, ranked in order.

  1. HVAC system
  2. Air conditioner
  3. Water heater
  4. Lighting fixtures
  5. Washer and dryer
  6. Refrigerator
  7. Electric Oven
  8. TV/DVD/VCR
  9. Dishwasher
  10. Computer (desktop or laptop)

Typical Costs to Run Appliances

To actually see some of this information in action, check out the information below that describes the average cost per hour to run several common appliances, assuming a cost of 10 cents per kilowatt-hour.

  • Heat pump or central air: $1.50
  • Dryer or water heater: $0.40
  • Electric stove burner: $0.10
  • Refrigerator: $0.10
  • Computer and monitor: $0.04

A big takeaway from these findings: One of the most effective ways to save a lot of money at home is to make changes that allow you to take some stress off of your HVAC system and air conditioner!

Looking for some further reading? Check out the rest of our Bright Insights blog to learn more about residential energy efficiency!

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