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One of the most important steps in making the move to renewable energy resources or even just saving yourself some money by cutting back is to figure out what you’re using now. Once you know that, you’ll know what you can do without and the more you can do without, the less you’ll have to generate on your own (and the less you’ll have to spend to buy the gear).
One of the terms you’ll hear often in discussions electrical in nature is the kilowatt-hour (kWh). The kilowatt-hour is also commonly used in natural gas energy. Most domestic appliances will quote their power consumption in kilowatts and many electric utility companies use the kilowatt hour as a billing unit.
So what is a kWh in real terms? Here are some examples that I culled from the Sustainable Energy Blog…
- 1200 electric shaves
- Slice 100 breads
- Drying your hair 15 times
- 4 TV evenings
- Listening to 15 CD’s
- Using a (small) refrigerator for 24 hours
- 20 microwave meals
- Drill 250 holes
- 4 evenings of light with 60 W incandescent light
- 20 evenings of light with 11 W compact fluorescent light
1469 days ago
[...] is reasonable (4-8 cents a kWh) and cost competitive with other fuel. If there was a carbon tax to gas and coal, the cost of [...]
This number: 888kwh / average household / year is not correct. Without a source, it’s hard to tell where the numbers got skewed, but that would mean 74kwh/month per household.
Check your last electricity bill. It’s more likely to be in the hundreds of kwh / mo. than 74kwh for last month. Unless you’re really careful with it…
The average household used 888 kw-hours last year according to the department of energy. That is a household, not a person.
2266 days ago
[...] RVers and busconverters don’t generally deal with as many intricacies in designing a renewable energy electrical system as the off-grid community, but the off-gridders’ level of expertise is always good reading for those interested in extended-term living without the shore line… This, from Unplugged Living and the Sustainable Energy Blog. What is a kWh Worth? One of the most important steps in making the move to renewable energy resources or even just saving yourself some money by cutting back is to figure out what you’re using now. Once you know that, you’ll know what you can do without and the more you can do without, the less you’ll have to generate on your own (and the less you’ll have to spend to buy the gear). [...]
2342 days ago
[...] The average American uses around 600-800 kWhs of energy every month. What is a kWh? Unplugged Living lays out what that will get you: [...]