Knowing which of your appliances consumes the most energy can make a change in the way you use appliances around your home. It can also be a major factor in the buying process when you need to purchase new items.  When your energy  invoice arrives, it tells you how much you have to pay and how much energy you have used, but do you really know what you’re being charged for? You may think that a TV consumes less energy than a kettle, or a coffee machine uses less energy than a clothes washer, but in fact it’s the opposite. Being aware of how much energy you use is a great way to lower your energy cost as well as your environmental impact.

A good way to calculate your energy consumption is by knowing how many watts each appliance is consuming. It is then possible to measure approximately how much each appliance costs by calculating the hours used against your energy rates. There are many online applications to help you easily measure your energy consumption. Here is a user-friendly Interactive Energy Board made by General Electric that measures the use of each home appliance by watts, kilowatts hour, $US dollars cost ) and gallons of gas (1 gallon = 3.8 litres). It also has information to help you understand the terms used in your electricity bill.

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