The Kilowatt – Tips for Understanding Your Electricity Usage
While every person is not an expert in physics, understanding the use of energy isn’t a foreign concept either. Knowing the energy use is a great step in making changes to how much energy is used and lowering the electricity bill.
How can watts be converted into kilowatt-hours?
These steps need to be followed to convert watts into kWh.
Divide the total number of watts that your entire appliance uses by 1000 so that the number can be converted to kilowatts from watts. For instance, a light bulb of 100 watts uses 0.1 kilowatts in an hour.
After this step, multiply the number of kilowatts by the total hours your appliance will be used. If you use the light bulb for seven hours, multiply 0.1Kw by seven to produce 0.7 kWh.
How to measure the energy?
A kilowatt, also referred to as kW, is recognized worldwide to measure electricity. One kilowatt equals 1000 watts.
Your electricity company charges as per the electricity you use per kilowatt-hour (kWh). In simple words, it measures the total kilowatts which are used over time.
For instance, a bulb of 100 watts uses 0.1 kilowatts in an hour. It takes 10-11 hours for the light to consume the energy of 1 kWh. If the energy company charges 10 for each kWh, you would have to pay the same to use the light every 10-11 hours.
It might not be a big deal now, but the small amount of energy use adds up over a month. Get to know more about it at the utility bidder.
How to calculate the usage in the household?
Many appliances that are used in the house have their wattage listed on the label, which will make the calculation simple.
If you would like to know the kilowatts that appliances use, you just need to divide the watts which are labeled by 1000, and then multiply the number by the total number of hours used.
For instance, you have used a radio of 400 watts for an hour. Since the kW is 1000, the wattage will be divided by 1000 (400/1000 = 0.4). Now, this is the number which you have used to listen to the radio.
After that, multiply the number (0.4) by the hours (1) of use to know the total kWh used (0.4 * 1 = 0.4). In such a case, only 0.4 kWh is used to listen to the radio for an hour. However, if you used it for two hours, the usage will be doubled to 0.8 kWh (0.4 * 2 = 0.8).
Smart meters
Various households benefit from smart meters. If they are placed outside your house, they will measure the electricity usage daily and communicate with the utility provider. Offering an advantage to the consumer, a meter also lets you know the up-to-date information on the total number of energy use.
With this, you can manage the energy usage easily and calculate the bill before arriving. If a lot of energy is consumed, make changes to it so that you get the lower bills. Take note of savings by the meter when you make changes to things like air conditioning and lighting use.