A Wall Street Journal columnist recently took an energy meter around his house to look at what used the most power, concluding that major appliances and lights were the real power sinks. However, this blogger posts a rebuttal based on his own testing, noting that appliances have enjoyed substantially improved energy efficiency in the past 20 years. While he's not denying the energy-sucking role of washers and dryers, he notes that even as these big appliances have become dramatically more energy efficient, household energy usage has increased from an annual "793 kWh in 1990 to 938 kWh in 2006."
The major culprit in driving energy use up? Home electronics, like televisions and computers, as well as the multiplicity of battery charged devices (cell phones, razors, and even toothbrushes!). I wrote on this previously, since many of these devices continue to suck electricity even when turned off!
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