Electricity
Myths
Does it take more
energy to turn on a light than to leave it
on?
No. There's no power surge when you
turn on a light. Turning the light off ALWAYS
saves electricity, even if it's for just a
second. (more on
lighting...)
Does it take more
energy to turn on a computer than to leave it
on?
No. There's no meaningful power surge
when you turn on a computer. Turning the
computer off ALWAYS saves electricity. Of
course, you can also use the power saver
feature. (more on
computers...)
Is there ANY consumer
device that uses more energy when you turn it on
than when it's already on?
No, not in practical terms.
I don't believe you.
Everyone says there's a surge when you turn on
computers and stuff.
There's a surge but it's so tiny
you can't easily measure it. That's
because it happens for only a fraction of a
second, and the surge itself is modest. It's
certainly not costing you any extra money, not
even a penny. So there's no surge in
practical terms. As far as you're concerned
there's no surge at all.
Think of it this way: If a device used
twice as much power as normal for one
full second when you turned it on, that
would mean that it cost you one whole extra
second of electricity. Big deal. That's a
fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a penny.
And in fact, the surge doesn't really last for a
whole second, it lasts for only a fraction of a
second, and the surge isn't close to twice as
much power as normal, it's much less. Bottom
line: Surge is so incredibly insignificant it's
really like there was no surge at all, for all
intents and purposes. There is never a
penalty for turning on a household device.
Does it take more
energy to cool a house in which the AC has been off
all day, than to keep the AC running at, say, 85
degrees during the day?
No. Cooling a hot house down at the end
of the day always takes less energy than leaving
the AC running all day, even if it's running on
a high setting. (more on
cooling...)
I heard that an
electrical wiring problem can lead to electricity
"leaking" out of the wires and into the abyss,
causing a person to pay for electricity that they
don't use.
Nearly every message I've ever received
that begins with, "I heard that..." is wrong.
This one is no different. It's easy to check:
Turn off everything in your home (and unplug
things that use standby
power, like TV's and microwaves), then go
look at your electric meter and notice it isn't
spinning any more.
Does a 240V device use
more electricity than the same device designed to
run off 120V?
No. The electric company charges you
for watt-hours, not volts, and the wattage is
the same. To figure volts you use the fomula
V x Amps = Watts. A device that uses
twice as many volts will use half as many amps,
so the wattage will be the same -- and so will
the cost.
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