Knowing what uses the most electricity in your home will help you reduce the amounts that you are using, especially if it is being drained by something that should not be running all the time, such as a game console in the spare bedroom. Children today are famous for leaving game systems on all the time. Televisions are just as bad because they go into a sleep mode, rather than turning themselves off.
There are several things that you can do to track your electricity, so let’s go over a few of them.
· Energy Audit
You can hire a professional auditor that can come to your home and evaluate your power consumption, and then give you a report that details what is using the energy, and how much. The information that the pro gives you will allow you zero in on any problem areas.
· Electricity Usage Monitor
This is one of the easiest ways to monitor your appliances and devices. It is a device that plugs into the wall, and then the appliance is plugged into it. The digital screen will tell you how much it is drawing. The higher priced devices can be programmed to turn off at set times and turn on when told to do so.
· Whole House Monitors
This device will be similar to the ones that the professional auditor used. Some claim that they can be hooked up by any, other types will need to be installed by an electrician. They will monitor the usage of your entire house, and some of them can even isolate where issues are, such as vampires that slowly suck your power.
· Sub-Meters
If you run a business from home in an outbuilding, or if you have a garage that uses power separately of the house, you may want to consider having a sub-meter installed. This is basically a way for you to isolate different structures on the property from the main house.Check online for options that you have when hooking up separate lines around the property. If you want to save time and energy have iselect compare electricity companies for you.
· Mobile Apps
There are so many mobile apps that can be downloaded and used that it is impossible to cover them in this small article. Just do a quick search in your Google or Apple Store and find one that fits your needs. Some of the newer ones can even monitor your electric car if you have converted to that yet. Some of them are free, some of them charge, and some are in between. They will offer you free access for a limited time. It is a worthwhile investmentif you genuinely want to isolate all your energy use.
That is about all that there is to it. Some of the options will require you to hire someone to come in and either monitor your usage, or to install devices so you can monitor it yourself. Some of the devices claim that you can hook them up without help, but unless you are familiar with wiring and electricity, it is suggested that you let a professional do it for you.
A final note
If you are wanting to monitor your usage to help you lower your energy consumption and the cost of your bill you can check a couple of things really fast. Computers and mobile device chargers are left plugged in all the time. Even when something gets full, like your mobile phone battery, the charger will continue using tiny amounts of power to keep it full. A small charge, like a trickle charge, are called vampires because they leech the power. Look around your house, it is shocking how many plugs are used, with nothing on the other end of them.
Article Submitted By Community Writer
