Living Green: The Missing Manual

Getting More out of Your Appliances

There's no denying that appliances make people's lives easier—no one wants to go back to lugging clothes down to the river and beating them with a rock to get them clean. Today, though, we demand more from our appliances than mere convenience: We want them to be energy efficient, too. Otherwise, money and energy go down the drain along with the dirty laundry water. This section explains lots of ways you can save money and help the planet.

How Much Energy Does That Gadget Use?

As you learned in the box on Calculate power use for free, if you know how many watts something uses, you can calculate how much power it consumes. If you don't know the wattage, Table 2-1 lists U.S. Department of Energy wattage estimates for common appliances.

Table 2-1. Wattage of Household Appliances

Appliance	Number of Watts
Ceiling fan	65–175
Clock radio	10
Coffee maker	900–1200
Clothes washer	300–500
Clothes dryer	1800–5000
Dehumidifier	785
Dishwasher	1200–2400
DVD player	20–25
Hair dryer	1200–1875
Iron	1000–1800
Microwave oven	750–1100
Personal computer: Desktop monitor and hard drive	60 (standby)–270
Personal computer: Laptop	50
Portable heater	750–1500
Refrigerator (frost-free, 16 cubic feet)	725
Television	65–170
Toaster oven	1225
Vacuum cleaner	1000–1440

When you're shopping for new appliances, look for Energy Star–qualified ones. Energy Star began in 1992 as a voluntary labeling program that let manufacturers identify energy-efficient ...