microwaves, can contribute significantly to these phantom loads. Even when an appliance is not actively running, it is still drawing power to sustain inner memory settings, clocks, and internal sensors.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, standby power can account for 5-10% of residential energy use. When you consider every single device in a standard home, that percentage can add up to a noticeable amount of waste. Given that the average microwave uses about 3 watts of standby power, I wanted to see if unplugging it between uses could make a measurable difference in my electricity consumption and subsequent bill. I wanted to see if targeting just one common kitchen device would show up as a real reduction on my monthly statement.
How I Tracked My Power Use And Electric Bill For The Experiment
To accurately track the impact of unplugging my microwave, I used a combination of
