What Household Appliances Use the Most Kilowatts?

Homeowners can save money by reducing appliance kilowatt usage.David Sacks/Lifesize/Getty Images

As of 2010, the average home consumes 11,000 kilowatts of energy annually. You can determine your daily kilowatt usage by taking the wattage consumed by the appliance, multiplying that wattage by the number of hours that the appliance is used per day and dividing this wattage by 1000. You can use your knowledge of the kilowatts consumed by appliances to make decisions regarding how you use your appliances.

Heating Kilowatts

Heating and cooling appliances use the largest quantity of kilowatts. Portable heaters use between 700 and 1,500 kilowatts a year. Central air can use as much as 5,000 kilowatts a year and account for the largest form of energy consumption. Water heating uses the next largest quantity of electricity. The water heater uses between 4,500 and 5,500 kilowatts a year.

Outdoor pool heaters cost extra money, with a typical pool heater costing 1,500 kilowatts a year. However, these appliances are only needed when homeowners use the pool. Limiting pool usage when the temperature is low can reduce the costs of the pool heater.

Kitchen appliances cost a large percentage of home energy expenditure, with refrigerators consuming the largest quantity of energy at around 1,200 kilowatts a year; the freezer costs about 800 kilowatts of energy; electric cooking equipment costs about 600 kilowatts a year. Homeowners can lower these expenditures by having more meals that do not require heating, such as eating a more vegetarian diet.

Many other home appliances do not cost a lot of electricity, such as televisions and computers. These appliances are mostly under 500 kilowatts a year. Appliances that cost very little electricity include blenders, which only cost 10 kilowatts a year, clocks, which only cost 24 kilowatts a year, and coffee makers, which only cost 48 kilowatts a year. However, these appliances can add up over time, and they are often easy appliances to reduce energy expenditure. Also, many of these appliances consume some electricity while in standby mode. Completely shutting off these appliances can save energy.

Some appliances, such as refrigerators and air conditioners, save energy by automatically cycling on and off, only operating and consuming energy when they need to maintain temperature. Appliances all use different levels of kilowatts even among different models of the same kind of appliance. Therefore, the number of kilowatts used by certain appliances are only estimates. Some appliances use different amounts of energy depending on the level at which you use them, such as with microwaves and ovens. Some appliances consume kilowatts even if they aren't operating because they're on standby mode even though they consume much less electricity.