# Rough Draft 3: Appliances and Energy

Intro:

As a college senior, I am starting to research the “real world”. Which essentially means that I am looking at a lot of things that cost a lot of money. A way to save money and electricity is by buying newer appliances when stocking your home. And while that might seem like a rather consumerist statement, appliances are a major drain of electricity and the older they are, the less efficient they are. I want to compare new eco-friendly efficient models of appliances with their older counterparts. I think a lot of people have heard the common ways to reduce your electricity needs by shutting off the lights when you are done with them or not cranking the a/c, but sometimes the only way to see true savings in both electricity/water usage is to buy newer models. I think the audience of this blog is people who are buying homes for the first time, or those looking to renovate. Also, this is good for businesses because they have capital available to make investments that might not pay off completely for a few years.

First:

I want to talk about what it means to be an Energy Star. Energy Star is not a brand, rather a program run by the EPA that identifies brands that are efficient and reduce pollution. Energy Star refrigerator uses 40% less energy than standard models made in 2001. Also, it’s important to know that dishwashers made before 1994 use more than 10 gallons per cycle, whereas Energy Star dishwashers have to use less than 4.25 gallons.

Math from source 1 ( Kitchen Appliances ): Using this information I can calculate the average difference between the old models and the new models.

Second:

If you replace a washing machine made before 1994 with an energy star model is can save a family $110 per year. They use 50% less energy and approximately 17 less gallons of water to run. Replacing a 10 year old air conditioner can reduce the electricity bill by$14.  Water heaters comprise 14% of your electric bill alone and if they are older than 10 years, they can be less than 50% efficient. Getting a new one could potentially substantially reduce your electric bill.

Math from source 2 ( The Natural Resources Defense Council ): Using this information I can make calculations regarding the reduction in dollars for an electricity bill.

Third:

A lot of my blog information relies on the energy decrease between older and new models. Here, I want to talk about how much the average US household spends on energy a year. The bill usually totals around \$2,060. 13% going towards water heating, 13% for cooling, 12% for appliances, 12% for lighting, 21% for electronics, and 29% for heating.

Math from source 3 ( Where Does my Money Go ): I can calculate how much each section of the bill costs and then, using my other data, calculate the potential savings from upgrading appliances.

Conclusion:

(I will mention the calculations that I made earlier and my findings).  Buying new appliances is spending money to save money. As you can see from the calculations above, it really is better for your wallet, and better for the environment to invest in Energy Star rated products.

Sources:

My first source is Kitchen Appliances . This is a credible sources because it is published by the United States government.

My second source is The Natural Resources Defense Council .  This is a credible source because it is an organization that is dedicated to reducing unnecessary resource usage. It is a website that has a lot of empirical data for a variety of products (fridge, washer, etc).

My third source is Where Does My Money Go . This source is credible because it is published by the EPA which is the Environmental Protection Agency which is a federal agency.

Connection:

All of my sources connect because they give me information necessary to make calculations to see the energy savings and financial savings of getting newer appliances. Also, they give me enough background information to present the data I compute into easily understandable terms. For example, I will be calculating everything in annually because that is the way that most average electric usage/savings are reported.

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