All the Ways You’re Draining Electricity in Your Home

The average household in the U.S. consumes 10,500 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity each year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Much of that electricity comes from appliances that are necessary for our daily routines at home, like refrigerators, washers and dryers, lights, and the HVAC system. However, the way we use and interact with these appliances and other electricity-using items throughout the home can make a big difference in how much that energy ends up costing us. So, if you’re looking to lower your electricity bills, keep in mind the following habits and activities that could be draining your electricity.

Adjusting the Thermostat

Air conditioning and space heating are the largest sources of electricity consumption. In fact, air conditioning accounts for 19% of your usage, and space heating accounts for 12%. Compare this to a dishwasher or humidifier, which uses less than 1% of a home’s electricity.

And when your HVAC has to work harder to maintain the desired temperature, it can cost even more to operate. One way you make it work harder: Moving the thermostat every time you leave home or come home. Admittedly, the idea of cooling an empty home may sound like a waste, but if you keep changing the temperature, you’re causing the HVAC to work harder than it should.

Not Having an Efficient System

“As a consumer, you may not even realize whether you have a heat pump or furnace and that alone could make a significant difference in your energy usage,” says DR Richardson, co-founder of Elephant Energy. He says that heat pumps are 300% more efficient than traditional furnaces, so he recommends making the switch if you are currently using a traditional furnace. “You can reduce your home’s carbon emissions up to 93% over the lifespan of the appliance and improve the overall air quality in your home,” he says. 

Not Clearing Your System of Debris

And here’s something else that you may not have considered. While trees can provide shade and keep the home cooler, Robertson warns that tall grass, weeds, and debris around the outside unit can block the airflow, making the HVAC inefficient. 

Having Unsealed Gaps and Leaks

You’d probably be surprised how much air (and therefore, energy) is lost through gaps and leaks through your window and door frames. According to ENERGYSTAR.gov, anywhere from 25-40% of the energy used to heat and cool your home is lost to air leaks. And these leaks can also cause condensation—which, in turn, can lead to mold and mildew, and cause structural damage.

Vampire Appliances

Many people assume that if they turn off an appliance, it’s not consuming energy (and honestly, that’s a perfectly logical assumption). However, 35% of the power used annually in a home is wasted. “Some of this wasted energy comes from ‘vampire’ appliances, which use energy even when they are switched off,” Dan Mock, VP of operations at the electrical services company Mister Sparky, says. As a result, vampire appliances contribute to your electricity bills, even when you’re not actively using them.

Mock points to the following as the worst electricity-draining offenders:

1. Digital cable or satellite DVRs
2. Computers (laptops use more energy than desktops)
3. Printers
4. Central Heating Furnace (Even turned off, furnaces can use a lot of electricity.)
5. Routers and modems
6. Phones
7. Gaming consoles
8. Televisions
9. Microwaves (and also that microwave clock) 

Not Turning Off the Lights

Some people believe that they can avoid the “startup penalty” by keeping the lights on instead of turning them off when leaving a room. But Joel Worthington, president at Mr. Electric, a Neighborly company, says you should absolutely turn the lights off when you leave a room. Lighting your home is 20% of your energy bill, and since the average home has 40 light bulbs, he says the average cost is $200 a year. You can slash that number by being aware of when you’re leaving unneeded lights on.

Using the Wrong Lightbulbs

Also, it really does matter what type of lights you use. According to Energy.gov, incandescent lighting is the least efficient type of lighting: 90% of the energy is heat, whereas only 10% is actual light. (That’s also why a room gets cooler in the summer when you turn incandescent lights off.)

Halogen lights are more efficient than incandescents, but still inefficient. Compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs are quite energy efficient. However, they’re also the type of lights that contribute to the confusion about whether to turn lights off or not when leaving a room. That’s because CFLs should be turned off if you’re leaving the room for more than 15 minutes. However, if you’ll be back in less than 15 minutes, leave them on. This isn’t about saving energy—it’s about conserving the life of the bulb. The more you turn a CFL light on and off, the quicker you’ll burn out the bulb.

LED lights have a ridiculously-long life-span and they’re the most energy-efficient lights that you can purchase.

Here’s a breakdown on unnecessary usage and costs:

ENERGYSTAR notes that leaving 10 incandescent bulbs on when not needed for just an hour a day adds a cost of $24 a year; leaving 10 halogen lights on when not needed for just an hour a day adds $17. If you leave 10 CFLs on when not needed for just one hour a day, it adds $6 a year, and if you leave 10 LEDs on when not needed for just one hour a day, it adds an extra $5. That may not sound like a lot, but consider the cumulative effect of leaving the lights on for several hours a day.

Tips for Lowering Your Energy Costs  

Fortunately, there are several ways to stop wasting electricity. Mock provides the following four tips:

• Unplug your devices when not in use.
• Buy products, like LED lights, that have low standby power usage.
• Invest in ENERGYSTAR appliances.
• Find out how much power you’re actually using with a home energy audit.

Worthington agrees that a simple habit like turning off lights when you leave a room—and also unplugging electronics that can still draw energy when not in use can help conserve energy. “Consider switching to LED lightbulbs, which use less energy than incandescent light bulbs,” he says. And if you have outdoor lighting, Worthington recommends motion detection, since the lights will only be activated when motion is detected (as opposed to leaving the lights on all night long).

Putting several items on a power strip—like a laptop, monitor, and printer—makes it easy to turn them all on and off.

Having your HVAC serviced at least once a year, Robertson says, means it won’t have to work harder than it should to maintain the desired temperature in the home—saving you money in the long run.

Regarding air leaks and unsealed gaps in window and door frames, Richardson suggests touring your home and checking frames for drafts. “Once you’ve identified the gaps/leaks, weatherstrip them to create a tighter and stronger seal,” he says. Another tip is to add insulation, and Richardson says this applies to walls, attics, floors—even the foundation. “Weatherization techniques like this definitely have a great return on investment—in fact, participants in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Weatherization Assistance Program saw a $283 decrease in their annual energy bills,” he shares.