The idea of cutting electricity costs seems to focus on large appliances. Turning up or down the thermostat, cold water in the washing machine, cool settings on the dryer, run the dish washer only when it’s full. All good ideas, but if the cohabitants in your household feel they are doing without, more than they see what is being saved, they may greet greener ideas with major resistance.

Here are some small changes that can make a difference. Maybe not so much of a difference in your actual kilowatt savings, but a difference in though patterns.

An electric can opener is rated around 70 watts. Granted most of us don’t use a can opener for hours on end. If you needed to get a can open, and had to purchase something to open it, why buy something that is going to have a constant usage fee? The electric can opener has an initial cost and a continuing usage cost.

A hand crank can opener has an initial cost that is much less than an electric can opener, but the best part is there is no usage fee. I’ve yet to have a hand cranked can opener break or wear out, although I’m sure they do, I’ve not seen it.

This is the thought pattern we need to wrap our heads around. The cost of an item is the initial outlay, the cost of usage, up-keep, the cost of the way we power it, and the cost to the planet. All of these things add up to the actual cost of the item.

How much is it to make coffee?

Let’s say your coffee maker is pulling 900 watts and you run it for 30 minutes a day. 900W/1000 (to get kilowatts) =.9 kilowatts. Times a half an hour a day, x .5 hour per day= .45kWh/day, or 13.69kWh a month. If your paying .12 cents a kWh, (check your bill for the actual cost) that’s 5 cents a day to make coffee. You’d be paying just under $20 a year for the making of coffee.

Maybe it’s not that bad. In 2001 an estimated 116 kWh were used for coffee makers. That’s a yearly cost of over $13 a year.

What about CO2 emissions?  Every month you’re putting out 13 to 18+ pounds of CO2. That’s only CO2, there are 6 Greenhouse gases; CO2 (Carbon Dioxide), CH4 (Methane), N2O (Nitrous Oxide), HFC’s (Hydrofluorocarbons), PFC’s (Perfluorocarbons), and SF6 (Sulfur Hexafluoride).

­The coffee maker will add in a little more heat to your house too. Are you going to air condition that heat away?

As you can see, there are differing figures, but you can time your own coffee making, read the label for your watt rating. If your label is in amps, amps x volts=watts. Check your coffee maker, but it’s probably around 800 to 900 watts. How long is it running? How many pots a day?

I drink coffee but I don’t use electricity to make it. I make cold coffee. Yes, it’s true, you can make coffee without heat. I’ll post my method in my next post, but you can find many ideas online.

As always, you should do your own research, as there are innumerable factors in every individual’s situation. Some will be more, or less, suited to your circumstances.

Peace!

Sources:

http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/recs/recs2001/enduse2001/enduse2001.html

http://www.altestore.com/store/calculators/load_calculator/

http://www.suncatchersolar.com/Load.htm

http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epm/table5_6_a.html

http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/ind_assumptions.html