8 Surprising Energy Hogs in Your Home

Katherine Tweed, GreentechMedia By itself, the ceiling fan in your house isn’t much of an energy suck. But the number of ceiling fans in the U.S. is going up as more people move into homes in warmer climates. All of those spinning fans are add up to nearly as much energy use as personal computers. The ceiling fan is part of a large group of household devices and commercial equipment that make up miscellaneous energy loads in buildings. Most of the technology isn’t an energy hog by itself, but taken in aggregate it becomes a serious opportunity for energy efficiency standards. A new report from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), Miscellaneous Energy Loads in Buildings, found that all of these random devices add up to 7.8 quadrillion Btus every year, nearly as much as water heating, refrigeration and cleaning and cooking combined. Knowing which devices are the most inefficient is particularly important as President Obama committed to increas…
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