How much electricity are your appliances using?

These figures are approximate representations, and the actual power consumption of your appliances may vary substantially from these figures. Check the power tags, or better yet, measure the amperage draw with a clamp-on ammeter or Kill-A-Watt meter. You can usually find these at your local hardware store. Multiply the hours used on the average day by the wattage listed below. This will give you the watt-hours consumed per day.

Remember that some items, such as garage door openers, are used only for a fraction of an hour or minute per day. A 300-watt item used for 5 minutes per day will only consume 25-watt hours per day.

Where a range of numbers is given, the lower figure often denotes a technologically newer and more efficient model. The letters “NA” denotes appliances, which would normally be powered by non-electric sources in a PV powered home.

* TV’s,VCR’s and other devices left plugged in, but not turned on, still draw power.

**To estimate the number of hours that a refrigerator actually operates at its maximum wattage, divide the total time the refrigerator is plugged in by three. Refrigerators, although turned "on" all the time, actually cycle on and off as needed to maintain interior temperatures.