Electricity Factoids

Did you know...?

• Leaving a fluorescent light on when you go out doesn’t save energy – switch off if you’re leaving for more than a few minutes.
• For each unit of electricity we use, two units of energy are wasted as heat loss from the power station!
• On a hot summer day, the heat coming through an unshaded window (1 meter square) is about the same as you'd get from switching on a single heating radiator! Curtains cut the heat by around 80%.
• A household that dries all its clothes in an electric clothes drier generates over a ton of greenhouse gas each year. That's as much as you'd produce driving a small car 5,000 km!
• The electricity to run the little clocks and lights on your VCR and microwave in Standby mode account for an eighth of all household energy-related greenhouse gas emissions! That's about the same that it takes to run your fridge! Turn off non-essential appliances at the wall, or buy products with low standby power use.
• Using the screensaver on your computer doesn’t save energy – it just protects the screen from damage. Switch off the screen or set up the energy saving features instead.
• The most efficient fridges on the market today generate only about half as much greenhouse gas as 15 year old fridges of the same size.
• Up to two-thirds of the gas used by a standard gas hot water heater is wasted as heat loss. High efficiency storage models and instantaneous units that heat water only as needed are more efficient.
• Using electricity to heat 15 liters of hot water generates a kilogram of greenhouse gas. You can heat nearly 3 times that much water for the same amount of greenhouse gas using a gas water heating system.
• Drying a load of clothes in an electric clothes dryer generates about 4 kilograms of greenhouse gas through the burning of fossil fuel to make electricity.
• Washing a dishwasher load generates 1-2 kilograms of greenhouse gas.
• Showering with electrically heated water generates about half a kilogram of greenhouse gas every minute.
• Rinsing dishes under running hot water (heated by electricity) generates up to half a kilogram of greenhouse gas per minute.
• An ordinary 100 watt light bulb generates a kilogram of greenhouse gas every 10 hours it runs, while a low voltage halogen lamp generates a kilogram every 15 hours and a compact fluorescent lamp every 50 hours.
• Most of the greenhouse gas generated by a washing machine is for heating water – cold washing generates only around a tenth of a kilogram of greenhouse gas per wash.
• Running a pool filter pump and salt chlorinator for 10 hours every day can double a household’s annual greenhouse gas emissions.
• Water beds with heaters use surprisingly large amounts of electricity to maintain their temperature, generating over a ton of greenhouse gas each year. Insulate the base and edges, and keep the cover on top!
• Over its life, a compact fluorescent lamp saves around half a ton of greenhouse gas and more than $50 compared with an ordinary globe.
• BIOMASS COULD PROVIDE 15% OF U.S. ENERGY DEMAND BY 2030: A joint feasibility study conducted by the US Departments of Agriculture and Energy has concluded that the US has the potential to produce a billion dry tons of biomass per year, while still continuing to meet the nation's food, feed and export demands.
• ANNUAL INSTALLATIONS OF ROOFTOP PHOTOVOLTAICS COULD POWER HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF HOMES AND BUSINESSES BY 2010: The state-by-state analysis concludes that the potential U.S. market for grid-connected solar rooftop PV could reach 2,900 MW per year by 2010, assuming that the solar industry can achieve a "breakthrough" price of $2.00-$2.50 per installed watt. This would be enough new electricity, brought online in just one year, to power more than 500,000 average U.S. homes.
• WIND POWER COULD GENERATE MORE THAN ENOUGH SUSTAINABLE ELECTRICITY TO MEET GLOBAL ENERGY NEEDS: Stanford University researchers have produced a new study and corresponding map that pinpoints where the world's winds are fast enough to produce power.
  The authors found that the locations with sustainable Class 3 winds could produce approximately 72 terawatts. A terawatt is 1 trillion watts, the power generated by more than 500 nuclear reactors or thousands of coal-burning plants. Capturing even a fraction of those 72 terawatts could provide the 1.6 to 1.8 terawatts that made up the world's electricity usage.