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ELECTRIC NOTES
DON’T GET BURNED
As you warm yourself and your family indoors during the cold winter months,
don’t get burned.
Stay safe around heaters, stoves and other hot objects. Some tips:
• Keep your space heater several feet away from yourself, your furniture
and your draperies while it’s turned on. And never leave a child alone
in a room with an operating space heater.
• Don’t try to balance a child in one arm and hold a cup of hot
coffee or tea with the opposite hand.
• Avoid loose clothing while cooking or tending to the fireplace. Throw
on a short-sleeved shirt to cut your risk of catching your clothes on fire.
• Turn pot handles away from the edge of the stove to avoid knocking
the pots over.
• Puncture microwavable plastic bags and keep containers slightly ventilated
while they’re in the microwave oven. This prevents buildup of scalding
steam.
• If you have a grease fire, don’t try to move or touch the pan.
Instead, turn off the heat and cover it with a lid.
• Place fireplace ashes in a metal container outside by themselves. This
gets them out of the house and isolates them from flammable materials.
• Teach kids respect for fire: Let them know that it’s dangerous
and not something to play with or around.
HOW MUCH ENERGY DOES IT REALLY USE?
If you’re trying to decide whether to invest in a more energy-efficient
appliance or you’d like to determine your electricity loads, you can estimate
appliance energy consumption.
You can use this formula to estimate an appliance’s energy use:
Wattage * hours used per day * days used per year ÷ 1,000 = kilowatt-hour
(kWh) consumption per year
For example:
Personal computer (120 watts) and monitor (150 watts):
(120 watts + 150 watts) * 4 hours per day * 365 days per year ÷ 1,000
= 394 kWh/year
Then, calculate the annual cost to run an appliance by multiplying the kWh
per year by your electric co-op’s rate per kWh consumed.
394 kWh * $0.104 (current national average) = $40.98 per year
You can usually find the wattage of appliances stamped on the bottom or back
of the appliance, or on its nameplate. The wattage listed is the maximum power
drawn by the appliance. Since many appliances have a range of settings, the
actual amount of power consumed depends on the setting used at any one time.
Here are some examples of wattages for various household appliances:
Clothes washer: 350–500 watts
Clothes dryer: 1,800–5,000 watts
Dishwasher: 1,200–2,400 watts
Microwave oven: 750–1,100 watts
Personal computer
CPU—awake/asleep: 120/30 watts
Monitor—awake/asleep: 150/30 watts
Laptop: 50 watts
Refrigerator (16 cubic feet): 725 watts
Televisions
27-inch: 113 watts
36-inch: 133 watts
53- to 61-inch projection: 170 watts
Flat screen: 120 watts
Water heater: 4,500–5,500 watts
ENERGY USE: MYTH AND FACT
As electricity costs continue to rise, we’re all looking for ways to
reduce energy use. Al-though there are a lot of good ideas out there, there
are also a lot of misconceptions about what is really effective. Here is one
of the most common myths and the facts to set you on the right path.
Myth: Computers, monitors and other office equipment will
use less energy and last longer if they are left running all of the time.
Fact: Turning equipment off overnight does not shorten its
life, and the small surge of power that occurs when some devices are turned
on is much smaller than the energy used by running equipment when it is not
needed. In fact, leaving computers and other office equipment on overnight and
on weekends wastes significant amounts of energy and also adds to the wear and
tear on the equipment.
In general, turn off equipment you are not using or make sure that energy-saving
features are enabled. Some office equipment, including printers and scanners,
features small transformers that use energy even when the equipment is turned
off. Plug all such devices into a power strip so they can be shut down completely
with one flick of the switch.
MAKE YOUR HOME LIGHTER—NOT YOUR WALLET
Try lighting your home differently and your wallet might get a little heavier.
Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs)—the twisty ones that last up to
five years—use about two-thirds less energy than incandescents. That energy
savings translates into lower energy bills.
You can save $30 over the lifetime of each CFL you use in place of a traditional
incandescent bulb. CFLs may last for 6,000 or more hours before they burn out.
As a bonus, a CFL doesn’t put off much heat when it burns, unlike the
incandescent light bulbs you’re probably using now. The result: The CFL
doesn’t add heat to the air in a room that you’re trying to cool
when it’s hot outside. Less added heat means your air conditioner doesn’t
have to work so hard. That can save you even more.
The latest CFLs are much improved from those slow-to-turn-on, pale-white bulbs
of the past. If you tried CFLs a long time ago and didn’t like the color
or the delay, try them again. The light and performance of the latest CFLs are
much closer to what you’re used to.
It’s true that CFLs cost more than incandescents—from around $2
to $10 per bulb compared with less than $1 per incandescent bulb. But you’ll
more than make up the difference by paying lower electric bills.
Which CFL equals my old 60-watt bulb?
Choose a compact fluorescent light bulb between 13 watts and 15 watts if you
want it to light your room about as brightly as your traditional, 60-watt incandescent
light bulb.
Most manufacturers include “product equivalency” numbers on the
package, so you might see a label that says “soft white 60” or “60-watt
replacement.”
Here’s a guideline for CFLs that replace incandescent bulbs of other
wattages:
40 watt incandescent = 7-9 watt CFL
60 watt incandescent = 13-15 watt CFL
75 watt incandescent = 18-20 watt CFL
100 watt incandescent = 23-25 watt CFL
TEST YOUR POWER LINE SAFETY KNOWLEDGE
True or False? Power lines are insulated for contact.
False. While power lines may have a covering to protect against
weather, they are not insulated for contact. Birds can sit on power lines unhurt
because they don’t represent a path to the ground. You and your ladder
do.
True or False? I should keep myself and any equipment I’m
using at least 10 feet away from any power lines.
True. You don’t need to contact a power line to be in
danger; electricity can jump, or arc, from a power line to a worker who gets
too close. The best insulator is lots of space. You should keep yourself and
any equipment you’re using a minimum of 10 feet away from power lines,
but far greater distances are recommended.
True or False? I can be electrocuted by a power line even
if I am wearing gloves and rubber boots.
True. Work gloves and rubber boots offer no protection against
contact with a power line. Once again, space, and lots of it, is the best insulator.
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