Worried about high electricity bills?
These are the ten biggest power guzzlers in your household
Created: 07/05/2022Updated: 07/05/2022 09:48
By: Andrea Stettner
While electricity prices in Germany are exploding, many are trying to curb their energy consumption.
But where are the biggest power guzzlers lurking in the home?
Lights on, toaster on, fridge on: Even before breakfast
we use a lot of electricity in the household
.
While electrical appliances such as a hair dryer or cooker are only supplied with electricity when they are needed, the refrigerator and freezer run non-stop.
But does that also mean that these consume the most electricity – or are the biggest power guzzlers lurking somewhere else?
Do you want to save energy?
Then the dishwasher should stay off more often.
© Sven Simon/Imago
Which devices are the biggest power guzzlers?
All
devices
that consume a relatively large amount of energy are called power guzzlers.
Older electrical devices in particular require a lot of electricity, as do energy-intensive electrical devices in continuous operation.
According to the electricity provider
entega
, the following electrical appliances consume the most electricity in the house and apartment:
Small electrical appliances (such as toasters, hand vacuum cleaners, etc.)
TV
Washing machine
dishwasher
clothes dryer
lighting
refrigerator
freezer
electric stove
Old heating pumps
Where do we use the most electricity in the home?
In percentage terms, the biggest electricity consumers are not in washing and drying laundry (13 percent) or in refrigerators and freezers (11 percent).
In fact, we consume the most energy for
media and entertainment
: televisions, PCs and games consoles account for a whopping
27 percent of our electricity consumption
, according to an evaluation by the Federal Association for Energy and Water Management (BDEW).
.
household area | power consumption |
|---|---|
Media, Entertainment, PC | 27.3 percent |
Wash and dry | 13.1 percent |
light | 12.6 percent |
refrigerators and freezers | 10.7 percent |
Cook | 8.9 percent |
Wash | 7.9 percent |
hot water | 3.9 percent |
other | 15.5 percent |
Source: BDEW, as of March 2021
Save electricity: tips to use less energy
However, saving electricity is easier than many people think.
It is often enough to turn a few screws to make the electricity bill significantly lower.
We will show you some tips on how you can reduce your energy consumption with little effort.
Kitchen:
Heat water in a kettle instead of in a saucepan.
Always close the refrigerator door immediately.
Bathroom:
Set the temperature of the instantaneous water heater two to three degrees lower.
Light:
Replace old light bulbs with economical LED bulbs.
Laundry:
Leave out the dryer when the weather is nice and let the laundry dry on the drying rack outside.
Entertainment:
Unplug instead of leaving it on standby.
Laptop & mobile phone:
Reduce brightness - this saves battery and thus also electricity for charging.
Saving energy: When is it worth replacing a device?
Experts also recommend
replacing old devices with new ones
, as these now consume significantly less energy thanks to technical advances.
A replacement can be worthwhile, especially for devices in continuous operation.
A new refrigerator pays for itself
after around 10 years
, a fridge-freezer combination after 15 years and a new tumble dryer is also recommended after around 15 years.
However, this information only represents a rough guideline. Incidentally, you can easily measure the actual power consumption of individual devices yourself with a power
meter
and thus locate the biggest power guzzlers in your household.
(as)
