Saving Electricity home As seen in Newsweek, Forbes, NPR, the Christian Science Monitor, CNET, PC Magazine, InfoWorld, and everywhere else. About  
Rebates & Tax Credits
for U.S. consumers

Incentives for installing insulation and for buying energy-efficient appliances like refrigerators, washing machines, and air conditioners are often available from local and state governments and utilities. You can see what's available at DSIRE, Energy.gov, and Energy Star.

Related sites:

Home Power Magazine. All about renewable energy for the home.

No-Impact Man. Blog about a family striving to have no net impact. (i.e., What little they use, they offset.) Inspirational.

Off-Grid. News and resources about living without being connected to a utility company.

Mr. Electricity in the news:

"Michael Bluejay runs the outstanding Saving Electricity site that I've mentioned many times before." —J.D. Roth, Get Rich Slowly

Deep Green (book) by Jenny Nazak, 2018
Small Steps, Big Strides: Building Sustainability Habits at Home (book), Lucinda F. Brown, 2016
How much money you'll save with these common energy-saving strategies, Lifehacker, Sep. 28, 2015
Radio interview about saving electricity, Newstalk 1010 (Toronto), April 21, 2015
How much does your PC cost in electricity?, PC Mech, Nov 21, 2013
How Much Electricity Do Your Gadgets Really Use?, Forbes, Sep. 7, 2013
Can my bicycle power my toaster?, Grist, June 10, 2013
Six summer debt traps and how to avoid them, Main St, June 5, 2013
To convert to gas or electric?, Marketplace Radio (NPR), July 20, 2012
8 Simple Ways to Reduce Household Waste, Living Green Magazine, June 29, 2012
Why is my electric bill so high?, New York Daily News, Mar. 27, 2012
Fight the Power, CTV (Canada's largest private broadcaster), Mar. 23, 2012
How to Cut Your Electric Bill, Business Insider, Mar. 20, 2012
Tips to save energy when using your computer, WPLG Channel 10 (Miami, FL), Feb. 23, 2012
How long will it take an energy-efficient washer/dryer to pay for itself?, Christian Science Monitor, Oct. 29, 2011
10 Easy Ways to Lower Your Electric Bill, Forbes, August 23, 2011
18 ways to save on utility bills, AARP, July 9, 2011
How to Save $500 Worth of Energy This Summer, TIME magazine, June 28, 2011
Hot over the energy bill? Turn off the A/C, just chill, Chicago Tribune, June 24, 2011
Cool Site of the Day, Kim Komando (syndicated radio host), May 29, 2011
This calculator shows how much you spend washing clothes, Lifehacker, May 6, 2011
What you pay when you're away, WCPO Channel 9 (Cincinatti), May 5, 2011
Spotting energy gluttons in your home, Chicago Tribune (CA), Apr. 7, 2011
Walnut Creek author has tips for livng a thrifty life, Contra Costa Times (CA), Jan. 24, 2011
Do space heaters save money and energy?, Mother Jones, Jan. 10, 2011
Energy steps to take for a less pricey winter, Reuters, Nov. 10, 2010
Should you shut down your computer or put it to sleep?, Mother Jones, Nov. 1, 2010
Energy saving tips for fall, Chicago Tribune & Seattle Times Nov. 7, 2010
10 ways to save money on your utility bill, Yahoo! Finance, Oct. 2, 2010
Mr. Electricity Ranks Refrigerators & Electrical Wasters, Green Building Elements, Sep. 8, 2010
The case against long-distance relationships, Slate, Sep. 3, 2010
10 household items that are bleeding you dry, Times Daily (Florence, AL), July 27, 2010
Cold, hard cash, Kansas City Star, June 22, 10
Stretch your dollar, not your budget, Globe and Mail, May 18, 2010
Auto abstinence, onearth magazine, Winter 2010
2010 Frugal Living Guide, Bankrate.com
Energy-saving schemes yield €5.8m in savings, Times of Malta, Dec. 20, 09
Four ways to reduce your PC's carbon footprint, CNET, Dec 2, 09
The day I hit the brakes, onearth magazine, Fall 2009
How Much Do You Really Save By Air-Drying Your Clothes?, The Simple Dollar, 2010
Enjoy the mild weather, low electricity bills, Detroit Free Press, Jul 18, 09
The most energy-efficient way to heat a cup of water, Christian Science Monitor, Jun 16, 09
Ten ways to save energy, Times of Malta, Jan 3, 09
Measuring your green IT baseline, InfoWorld, Sep 4, 08
Bald Brothers Breakfast (MP3), ABC Adelaide, March 27, 2007
Net Interest, Newsweek, Feb 12, 07
The Power Hungry Digital Lifestyle, PC Magazine, Sep 4, 07
Net Interest, Newsweek, Feb 12, 07
Answers to all your electricity questions, Treehugger, Jul 11, 08 Going Green, Monsters and Critics, Jan 6, 2007
A hunt for energy hogs, Wall Street Journal Online, Dec 18, 06

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Surge suppressors don't save electricity


A company is trying to sell me a surge suppression system (TVSS) for my [commercial] building they say will reduce electricity use by 20%. Is this B.S.? -- Glynn Moran, Feb. 2004

Yes, it's B.S. It won't save any electricity at all. Companies like RediVolt are scam artists who have never substantiated their claims. Sure, they guarantee the savings, but to file a claim you have to do things like submit daily temperature readings from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for a four-year period! Note that the link goes to an affiliate site; there are lots of different websites littering the net marketing the same exact Redi-Volt product.

Let's explain what surge protectors are and what they're not. Every once in a while there's an extremely brief surge of power in your electrical lines caused by things like your refrigerator kicking in and equipment switching at the power plant. These surges can damage electronic equipment like computers. You can protect your equipment by plugging it into a surge protector, which diverts the excess electricity to the ground. This kind of device is called a TVSS, or Transient Voltage Surge Suppressor.

But this doesn't save any meaningful amount of electricity, because the savings happens for only a fraction of a second. In the case of a plug-in protector you don't even save that, because the surge has already gone through the meter and you've already been charged for it. (Well, not really, because the surge is so small it doesn't even amount to a fraction of a penny, but if you could be charged for it, you would have been.) The company selling the sham TVSS system installs it at the electrical panel so it keeps you from getting charged from surges that come from the power plant but not inside your own building. Even so, like we said, the savings happens for only a fraction of a second, so small you can't really measure it.

Let's assume you had a 100% spike every three hours and that it lasts a millisecond, which is pretty long for a surge. (We're being generous.) Three hours is 10,800 seconds. So:

Without Spikes
With Spikes
* 10,800 seconds at 120V * 10,799.999 seconds at 120V, plus
* 0.001 seconds at 240V

So that means instead of using 10,800 seconds worth of 120V electricity, you're using 10,800.001 seconds of electricity. Put another way, every three hours you use an extra 0.001 of electricity. Now, if you think that's a lot, do you think you would save a lot of energy by turning off your lights for 0.001 seconds? Do you think you will pay a lot more for electricity by keeping them on for an extra 0.001 seconds?

Here's what it looks like in graphical form:

What? You say you can't see the surge? Oh, it's there. It's just that it's only 0.00000000003 inches wide, so it's a little hard to see. The table would need to be over 8000 miles wide in order for the surge to be represented by a one-pixel line. I made the chart smaller because I figured your monitor is not that large.

By the way, this is the same reason why the brief power surge that occurs when you turn on things like computers is meaningless -- it happens for a tiny, tiny, tiny, amount of time, and the surge itself is only modest. Think about it: If a device used twice as much energy when you turned it on for a full second, then it would cost you a whopping one extra second of electricity.

Please read that last sentence again, it's important.

Remember the motto of our website: Volts x Amps = Watts. Underwriters Laboratories figures that a typical damaging surge from lightning is 6000 Volts at 200 Amps and lasts ten microseconds (ten millionths of a second). So 6000 V x 200 A = 1,200,000 watts, or 1,200 kilowatts.

But the surge would have to last for an hour for that to be 1,200 kilowatt-hours, and in fact the surge lasts for only ten microseconds (0.000001 seconds). Dividing our 1,200 kWh by 3600 seconds in an hour, then multiplying by the 0.000001 seconds the surge actually happens, we get 0.00000003 kWh. It would take thirty million of these surges to eat up a kilowatt-hour, at which point you'd pay about eight cents for it. And remember, this is for a lightning strike; most surges are only a few hundred volts.

Some boring tech background: Most surge protectors clamp down on excess voltage above 330 or 400 volts. The TVSS making the claims of 20% energy savings says it clamps down at anything over 130V. That will certainly protect your equipment better, but again, it won't save energy. Surges usually last for no more than a few nanoseconds to microseconds (a billionth of a second to a thousandth of a second).

More about the TVSS energy-saving scam:

More about surge suppressors

  • Anatomy of a Surge Suppressor by ExtremeTech
  • How Surge Suppressor work by HowStuffWorks

    Incidentally, no surge suppressor you can buy will protect against lightning, which can be thousands or even millions of volts. But some surge suppressors come with a warranty that covers lightning damage, even though they can't protect against it, because the manufacturers are trying to get you to buy their product. They know the chances of lightning getting into your electrical lines is rare so their risk in offering that kind of guarantee to you is small. If you don't already have insurance to cover your electronics equipment then buying a surge suppressor that comes with a lightning guarantee is an easy way to insure yourself.

    Whether or not your insured (and whether with real insurance or a product guarantee), the only way to keep your equipment safe during a lightning storm is to physically unplug it from the wall. Turning it off isn't good enough, and turning off the power strip it's on isn't good enough -- there's enough power in a lightning surge to jump the little gap that turns a switch off. It's up to you whether you want to go to the hassle of unplugging your electronics when there's a storm. Me, I usually leave everything plugged in and just make sure my computer data is backed up.

My own experiences with TVSS scammers

One of the companies pushing RediVolt illegally copied some of my energy saving tips and put them on their own website, and then ignored my requests that they remove my content from their site (2002-03). They've since gone out of business (or at least their website is no longer up).

Damian Smith of TVSS scammer VoltTech.com wrote in April 2004 to ask that I take down this whole section about how TVSS's don't save energy because I am supposedly wrong.  Typically he provided zero evidence to back his claims. I told him that until he provides any evidence then I wouldn't respond to any more of his messages.  He then threatened legal action against me! I provided my address to serve their lawsuit in case they were actually stupid enough to file one.

By the way, VoltTech's site says that a fast food restaurant or car wash experiences over 400,000 surges a day.  Given that there are only 86,400 seconds in a 24-hour day, we're expected to believe there are five surges every second.  Not.

VoltTech's site is littered with ridiculous Java links and ugly bitmap graphics. It doesn't exactly inspire confidence.

A letter we got on this subject

I can understand your frustration companies that exploit the unknowing public with smoke and mirrors and delusions of power savings with the use of a TVSS unit.  I spent 25 years in the US Navy and started their TVSS program to save ONLY on maintenance costs and and to decrease equipment down times, not to save energy.  A TVSS unit does not modify current usage therefore doesn't save energy.

I have a TVSS / consulting company which recommends TVSS for things such as DC to 4160VAC. For those of us who tell the truth I applaud you!

Steve Salka, VP PhaseFree Inc., Feb. 2006

 

Saving Electricity home As seen in Newsweek, Forbes, NPR, the Christian Science Monitor, CNET, PC Magazine, InfoWorld, and everywhere else. About  
Rebates & Tax Credits
for U.S. consumers

Incentives for installing insulation and for buying energy-efficient appliances like refrigerators, washing machines, and air conditioners are often available from local and state governments and utilities. You can see what's available at DSIRE, Energy.gov, and Energy Star.

Related sites:

Home Power Magazine. All about renewable energy for the home.

No-Impact Man. Blog about a family striving to have no net impact. (i.e., What little they use, they offset.) Inspirational.

Off-Grid. News and resources about living without being connected to a utility company.

Mr. Electricity in the news:

"Michael Bluejay runs the outstanding Saving Electricity site that I've mentioned many times before." —J.D. Roth, Get Rich Slowly

Deep Green (book) by Jenny Nazak, 2018
Small Steps, Big Strides: Building Sustainability Habits at Home (book), Lucinda F. Brown, 2016
How much money you'll save with these common energy-saving strategies, Lifehacker, Sep. 28, 2015
Radio interview about saving electricity, Newstalk 1010 (Toronto), April 21, 2015
How much does your PC cost in electricity?, PC Mech, Nov 21, 2013
How Much Electricity Do Your Gadgets Really Use?, Forbes, Sep. 7, 2013
Can my bicycle power my toaster?, Grist, June 10, 2013
Six summer debt traps and how to avoid them, Main St, June 5, 2013
To convert to gas or electric?, Marketplace Radio (NPR), July 20, 2012
8 Simple Ways to Reduce Household Waste, Living Green Magazine, June 29, 2012
Why is my electric bill so high?, New York Daily News, Mar. 27, 2012
Fight the Power, CTV (Canada's largest private broadcaster), Mar. 23, 2012
How to Cut Your Electric Bill, Business Insider, Mar. 20, 2012
Tips to save energy when using your computer, WPLG Channel 10 (Miami, FL), Feb. 23, 2012
How long will it take an energy-efficient washer/dryer to pay for itself?, Christian Science Monitor, Oct. 29, 2011
10 Easy Ways to Lower Your Electric Bill, Forbes, August 23, 2011
18 ways to save on utility bills, AARP, July 9, 2011
How to Save $500 Worth of Energy This Summer, TIME magazine, June 28, 2011
Hot over the energy bill? Turn off the A/C, just chill, Chicago Tribune, June 24, 2011
Cool Site of the Day, Kim Komando (syndicated radio host), May 29, 2011
This calculator shows how much you spend washing clothes, Lifehacker, May 6, 2011
What you pay when you're away, WCPO Channel 9 (Cincinatti), May 5, 2011
Spotting energy gluttons in your home, Chicago Tribune (CA), Apr. 7, 2011
Walnut Creek author has tips for livng a thrifty life, Contra Costa Times (CA), Jan. 24, 2011
Do space heaters save money and energy?, Mother Jones, Jan. 10, 2011
Energy steps to take for a less pricey winter, Reuters, Nov. 10, 2010
Should you shut down your computer or put it to sleep?, Mother Jones, Nov. 1, 2010
Energy saving tips for fall, Chicago Tribune & Seattle Times Nov. 7, 2010
10 ways to save money on your utility bill, Yahoo! Finance, Oct. 2, 2010
Mr. Electricity Ranks Refrigerators & Electrical Wasters, Green Building Elements, Sep. 8, 2010
The case against long-distance relationships, Slate, Sep. 3, 2010
10 household items that are bleeding you dry, Times Daily (Florence, AL), July 27, 2010
Cold, hard cash, Kansas City Star, June 22, 10
Stretch your dollar, not your budget, Globe and Mail, May 18, 2010
Auto abstinence, onearth magazine, Winter 2010
2010 Frugal Living Guide, Bankrate.com
Energy-saving schemes yield €5.8m in savings, Times of Malta, Dec. 20, 09
Four ways to reduce your PC's carbon footprint, CNET, Dec 2, 09
The day I hit the brakes, onearth magazine, Fall 2009
How Much Do You Really Save By Air-Drying Your Clothes?, The Simple Dollar, 2010
Enjoy the mild weather, low electricity bills, Detroit Free Press, Jul 18, 09
The most energy-efficient way to heat a cup of water, Christian Science Monitor, Jun 16, 09
Ten ways to save energy, Times of Malta, Jan 3, 09
Measuring your green IT baseline, InfoWorld, Sep 4, 08
Bald Brothers Breakfast (MP3), ABC Adelaide, March 27, 2007
Net Interest, Newsweek, Feb 12, 07
The Power Hungry Digital Lifestyle, PC Magazine, Sep 4, 07
Net Interest, Newsweek, Feb 12, 07
Answers to all your electricity questions, Treehugger, Jul 11, 08 Going Green, Monsters and Critics, Jan 6, 2007
A hunt for energy hogs, Wall Street Journal Online, Dec 18, 06

Which battery is best? We cover rechargeable and alkaline batteries to show you what's hot, what's not, and the best way to charge them. (visit now)

Ben Folds Five

The rise and breakup of the world's greatest piano pop band.

(Visit now...)

How to Buy a House
How to
Buy a House

Step-by-step guide for first-time homebuyers.

Visit now...