Appliances and lights account for about a quarter of your monthly electric bill. Getting high efficiency, and specifically Energy Star rated appliances, will reduce this and your total energy consumption.

This will be important to figure out how much energy your devices use. Knowing what model your appliances are will allow you to look up stated power draws, while the watt-meter will allow you to find actual draws. Doing both steps would be nice, but either will work.

Either use the watt-meter or look up the power draws of your major appliances. Here's a list of the ones we recommend you look at:

• Washing Machine


• Dryer


• Refrigerator


• Dishwasher


• Microwave


• Toaster Oven


• Stove/Oven (if electric)


• Coffee Maker


• Television


• Entertainment Equipment


• Computer


• Monitors

Look online for the most appliances that use the least amount of energy you can find (for a reasonable price). The Energy Star website is a great place to start.

Look at how often you have these devices on and the difference in energy usage between the high efficiency devices and those you own. If you try to figure out how many extra watts you are using, you can use your electricity rate to figure out how much that is costing you.

As your appliances age, replace them with energy star or other highly efficient appliances. Target your most inefficient and high use appliances first. This step is going to take a while, and that's okay. As things age, continue to replace them with more efficient device. If you have all energy star or other high efficiency appliances, you are done with this guide.