Welcome To Josh's Blog O' Thoughts: Web Picks

Well in the past few days, one of my blog posts has made the distinct honor of being the first to have over 2000 views. Which of my popular posts was it to break this mark?

Was it the Gerber Viper Toilet Demonstration Video which linked to the very informative and sometimes slightly disgusting toilet demostration?

Was it the Tax Reporting For Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) post helping people figure out how to report gains and losses from their ESPP plans?

Was it the Gerber Allerton Toilet Review which was my own personal review of the Gerber Allerton toilet?

Or was it the The Easy Guide To The Digital TV (DTV) Switchover post which attemps to help people understand the conversion to DTV in layman's terms?


AND THE WINNER IS...

Tax Reporting For Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP)

Granted, I this is a topic of seasonal interest. Last year, it got very high views in Febraruary, March, and early April, but it slumped off during the rest of the year. I assume I'll see the same thing happen this year as tax time comes to an end.

Last year around this time, I posted an article about Tax Reporting For Employee Stock Purchase Plans (ESPP).

Last year, I learned the that there are specifically different rules for handling these types of capital gains/(losses) when compared with your standard stock transactions. My mistakes caused me to refile my tax returns (federal AND state) for the previous 3 years). I ended up getting about $1000 back so I didn't complain too much.

So this is just a reminder. If you sold any stock from an ESPP this past year, please follow the link above and read my detailed article on how to report this on your taxes. Also, you might want to take a look at using my spreadsheets which will help you calculate your gain/(loss) for these types of transactions. You can get the spreadsheets from the original post, or download them right from here:

I dedicate these two ESPP Tax Calculations files to the public domain so feel free to use them any way you wish.
ESPP Tax Calculations.ods - Open Document Spreadsheet format for OpenOffice.org
ESPP Tax Calculations.xls - MS Excel spreadsheet

Happy Tax Filing!

I noticed recently that two of my most popular articles are related to toilets:

Gerber Allerton Toilet Review

And

Gerber Viper Toilet Demonstration Video

I realized that if so many people were interested in how these two toilets work, then there's likely other people interested in how other toilets perform. Therefore, I thought I'd share some of the research I used when choosing toilets for our new house.

Our decision was made on four factors Cost, Looks, Environmental Impact, and Performance.

Cost

There's a wide range of prices available to you out there from the cheapo toilet you can find at any hardware store to the ultra-expensive. As is the case with most products, there is somewhat of a relationship between cost and other elements such as looks and performance. I say somewhat because while the middle of the road toilets may perform much better than the bargain basement ones, the top of the line toilets may not perform that much better than the middle of the road toilets. The trick is finding the magic middle point, where you are maximizing your performance and looks while minimizing cost.

That said, some of the brands that tend to be higher priced, are Toto and Kohler. I'm not saying these aren't nice toilets, but I definitely think you can get a nice toilet for cheaper.

Looks

Another factor to consider is looks. I know it sounds silly because after all "it's just a toilet". But when you've spent umpteen hours picking out everything else for a new house to make it exactly the way you want it, you tend to take the same approach with the toilets.

Like price, there's quite a range of what's available. Most toilets will be your standard round or elongated bowl with relatively no frills. If you are totally into function over form, you can get toilets that look like they belong in a public restroom. On the other side of the scale, you can get toilets with such modern styling that you can barely tell what they are. For us, the choice was to pick something along the lines of a standard toilet, but with a little bit of detail to it.

Environmental Impact

Those of you who have read my blog in the past know I'm a bit of a greenie. I was appalled when I learned that toilets used to use 6-7 gallons of water per flush! These days, you can't really buy a toilet that uses that amount of water. The standard now is 1.6 gallons per flush (gpf), but it is not uncommon to see toilets that use even less. Some toilets offer two flushing options: a half flush for light duty, and a full 1.6 gallon flush for larger loads. There are also pressure assisted toilets which use compressed air to help flush with less water. This is similar to what you'd see on an airplane. The downside of these toilets is that they are pretty noisy.

Peformance

Last but not least, performance is a big player in deciding which toilet to buy. After all, what good is a toilet if it can't flush or is constantly needed to be plunged? To find out how certain toilets stacked up against each other, I hit the Internet. I happened to find a VERY informative website listing results from independent performance testing. Go to the Canadian Water and Wastewater Association website and click on their Maximum Performance Testing report. It'll tell you everything you've ever wanted to know about toilet testing and how each toilet fared.


Now you have all the information and decision points we used to decide upon the Gerber Allerton toilets. Hopefully this will be helpful to people searching for information on other toilets as well.

Are you curious about how your use of home energy is affecting the environment? Ever wonder how you stack up next to the average American household? Well, ask no more! The EPA's website has some really great tools to help you figure this all out.

Let's first start with electricity. It's something we all use every single day. Chances are that your home is using some amount of electricity every single second. Even when you have all the obvious users (light bulbs, air conditioning, computers, TVs) turned off, your house is still using electricity. Many electronics devices use a small amount of electricity to run a clock or retain settings in memory. Many things that use a transformer (that would be the big clunky box you plug into the outlet that you use for charging batteries, running speakers, etc) are constantly using electricity regardless of whether or not the device is on. That said, it's obvious that electricity is MAJOR part of our home's energy use.

Since your home is using so much electricity, wouldn't it be great to know what the source of that electricity was? Does it mostly come from dirty, coal-burning plants, cleaner, nuclear power, or maybe even a renewable source such as wind or hydroelectricity. Since electricity is distributed to users via a grid system, your electricity does not come for a single source or even a single generating company. All power sources in a region are connected to the grid and combine to provide power to all areas of that region. Luckily for us, the EPA offers a web page to determine your sources for electricity. Simply, enter your zip code, select your electric company, and you will be given a graph detailing the sources of your electricity and the emission rates generated by your mix of sources.

Here is the break down for my area:


As you can see in the graph, my region (east-central Iowa) gets roughly 75% of our electricity from coal plants, 16% from nuclear, 7% from renewable sources, and the rest from other. As you can see by comparing to the green bars, my area's use of coal is higher than the national average and we are lower than average in natural gas usage. The other source types are all pretty close. I have to say that it does disappoint me a bit to see that my region is higher than average in use of dirty coal. I was hoping for a higher than average nuclear use since there is a nuclear plant very close to my city.

Looking further down the page, you can see how your particular sources of electricity rank as far as emission rates. Compared to the national average, my area has higher emission rates. This is likely due to the higher than average coal use. Again, this is disappointing for me to see.

Now that you know the emission rates for your electrical sources, you can actually use the EPA's page to calculate your personal emissions based on your sources and your usage. Just click the My Emissions link below the sources graphs. On this page, you can either enter your usage for the last 12 months, or you can enter a monthly average. Entering the last 12 months will be more accurate if you have the data available. Since I moved into a brand new house a couple months ago, I don't have a year's worth of data to use, so I will use an average of the last few months' usage.

Taking my last three utility bills, my average usage is about 1500kWh per month (the lowest being 859kWh). The EPA page says that the default for residential usage is about 900kWh per month, so it looks like I'm higher than average. However, my numbers are skewed by not having enough data and having a VERY cold Winter and Spring. I also have to remember that due having a ground source heat pump (geothermal heating/cooling), our house is ALL electric. We have no gas service so any emissions related to electricity will be all our home uses. Additionally, a geothermal system will gain some efficiency over time, so the fact that it was a brand new system during one of the harshest winters our area has had. At any rate, 1500kWh per month is about the best number I have to use right now.

After plugging in your usage number(s), hit the submit button to see your personal emission rate:


You can see that my electricity usage generates about 35,591 pounds of CO2 (carbon dioxide) per year. So now you have the amount of carbon dioxide (and to a lesser extent nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide), but what does it all mean?

We can use a third EPA web page to calculate carbon dioxide equivalencies to see how our emissions compare to other things. At the top of this page, Option 1 allows you can enter your electricity usage for the year in kWh, but doing so will use the national average electricity source mix for your emissions. Since we already calculated our source mix and our personal emissions, we can go to Option 2 and put in our actual carbon emissions from the previous page (make sure you change the unit to POUNDS not TONS!). You don't need to enter the nitrogen oxide or sulfur dioxide in the converter because are no fields for them in the conversion calculator (nitrous oxide is NOT the same as nitrogen oxide). After clicking the Calculate Equivalencies button, you will see how your emissions relate to other things.

Here's my full list of equivalencies:


It shows that my emissions come to a total of 16.1 metric tons. My electricity emissions are equivalent to the electricity-related emissions of 2.1 average homes. The means that either my electricity is dirtier than average (which it is due the coal) and/or I use more electricity than average (which I did). However, if we compare TOTAL energy usage of a home (electricity, gas, oil), I am equivalent to only 1.4 average homes. This number is lower because electricity-related emissions are my only emissions whereas the average home will also have emissions from natural gas/heating oil. That makes me feel a little better. The part that really disturbs me, is that it would take 414 tree seedlings grown for 10 years, or 3.7 acres of pine forest to offset the amount of carbon that my home is generating.

To get your total carbon output, also run the conversion for your therms of natural gas usage (if applicable), and gallons of gasoline usage using Option 1 at the top of the form. Get the total Carbon Dioxide of each of those and add them to your electric total to know your total emissions for a year. My 400 gallons of gas per year (approximately) adds an additional 3.5 metric tons of carbon, so my total carbon emissions are 19.6 metric tons for a year.

This is very interesting information. Hopefully, as I get more accurate usage information, my emissions will go down. We've already taken many steps to be energy efficient while building our home. Efficient windows and doors, thick insulation, Energy Star appliances, CFL bulbs, geothermal heating and cooling, etc. I plan to check on this again after I have more data and will post updated numbers.

If you can't reduce your usage, you also can buy carbon offsets which help energy companies get more renewable energy into the grid. Or you can do some offsetting yourself by planting trees and other plants. I currently have about 8.5 acres of grasses and about 0.5 acres of trees. If anyone can find a website that will tell me how much carbon grasses will absorb, that'd be great!

Anyone else willing to post their numbers? Leave a comment! Let's see who has the lowest carbon emissions!

Last November, I wrote a post stating my opinion that crude oil prices are in a price bubble that would eventually pop similar to the tech stocks in the early 2000's and the housing market in 2007. To me, it just seems to make sense. The VERY rapid increases in oil prices that we have seen in the past year alone can not be simply related to supply and demand fundamentals. The increases have just been too huge.

Today, Yahoo! Finance has a video interview with David Herro who was named one of the "World's Greatest Investors" in 2007. In the interview, he reaffirms my position that oil, as well as other energy commodities, WILL see a price bubble burst. After that, he expects oil to retreat to the $60-80 per barrel range. Those numbers are still much higher than they were a few years ago, but that has been SOME increase in demand since then, primarily in developing countries.

So even though we are currently paying around $140 for a barrel of oil, and around $4 for a gallon of gas, we can expect better prices to follow.

By now, you've probably heard about the digital television (DTV) switchover coming in February, 2009. Lately, I've seen TV ads and even infomercial-like shows trying to explain what will happen, but I've found that these ads don't really do enough to educate people on the switch. Hopefully, this article will help people understand a little more.

First, I want to start out by stating that if you currently subscribe to a cable or dish television service and plan to continue this service, then this change will not affect you. The switch to DTV only applies for over-the-air (OTA) television signals that are picked up using an antenna.

What Is The Switchover And When Will It Happen?

The switchover is a government mandated change in the way OTA television broadcasts are transmitted. The current television system uses analog transmissions and the new system will use digital transmissions (more on this in the next section). The switchover will occur on February 17, 2009.

What Is Digital Television (DTV)?

To understand the difference between analog television (what we have today) and digital television, think of the difference between an analog clock (one with hands) and a digital clock (one that just displays numbers). On an analog clock, the hands are not always pointing directly to a number; the hands may be between numbers. If the time is 6:30, the hour hand is half way between five and six. So there are many (infinite) positions that the hands of an analog clock can be in. A digital clock, however, shows a specific number at all times. If if it is 6:30, the hour digit still shows a six.

To equate this to OTA television service, think about the reception and picture quality you get today with analog. It might be a perfect picture, it might be very poor with lots of snow, or it might be anywhere in between. So there are many (infinite) different levels of picture quality with an analog transmission. Digital however, will not have those different levels of picture quality. If you are picking up the signal, the TV will display a perfectly crisp image. If you are not picking up the signal, you will see nothing. If you are on the verge of the signal's range, you might pick it up but the transmission might "drop out" leading to frozen images on the screen. Chances are that any station you currently receive with a decent picture quality will become "perfect" with DTV.

Does This Mean All TV Will Be High Definition Television (HDTV)?

Although all TV transmissions must be digital, it DOES NOT mean that they will all be high definition (HDTV). Different stations and networks can choose what type of resolution they'd like to send out. Resolution refers to the number of pixels (the colored dots that make up the image) displayed in an image. Generally speaking, the higher the resolution, the more detailed the picture can be and the better it will look on a larger screen. You will see broadcasts listed in resolutions such as 1080i, 720p, 720i, 480p, and 480i. The number listed is the vertical resolution of the image (the number of pixels from top to bottom). The letter (P or I) stands for progressive or interlaced. Progressive means that the entire image is displayed in one pass on your screen. Interlaced means that on the first pass, every other line is displayed and then the remaining lines are displayed on the next pass. Progressive scan is generally considered to be a better picture quality but requires hardware fast enough to scan the entire image on a single pass. There is also a 1080p specification that, at the moment, won't really be used for broadcast but will be used by Blu-Ray discs. Generally speaking, broadcasts in 1080i or 720p are considered HDTV, and the majority of shows on major networks will likely be broadcast in one of these two resolutions. 480i (Standard Definition TV, SDTV) is the same resolution as our current analog transmissions.

One of the other advantages of DTV is the ability for a station to transmit multiple channels within their given frequency range. This is called multi-casting. An NBC affiliate which transmits on Channel 7 might also transmit 7.1 (an all weather channel) and 7.2 (a local access channel). The station has a maximum amount of data that they can send out on their frequency (bandwidth) and they can appropriate it however they choose. Higher resolution transmissions require more bandwidth so most stations will likely have a single HDTV transmission on their main channel and one or more SDTV sub-channels. Therefore, another added benefit of DTV is that you might now get more programming choices.

Finally, aside from increased picture quality and resolution, DTV comes with increased audio quality and many programs will include 5.1 channel surround sound.

How Does This Switch to DTV Affect Me?

I can't reiterate enough that this switch is just for over-the-air (OTA) transmissions received by antenna. If you have cable or dish, you will not be affected. The switch will affect anyone using OTA television service, unless you already have a very new TV.

Inside a TV is a tuner. The tuner takes all the incoming transmissions from the antenna, isolates the transmission for the selected channel, and interprets the data so it can be displayed on your TV. DTV channels are still going to be broadcast in the same frequency ranges as the old channels so they will make it to the tuner just fine, but the tuner will not be able to isolate the channel nor will it be able to interpret the data for display. To be able to interpret these signals, a DTV tuner is required.

So if you currently have a TV with an analog tuner in it, you will get NO picture at all after the switch. If you have a new TV that listed as "DTV built in", "HDTV built in", "DTV tuner", or "ATSC tuner", then your TV already has a DTV tuner and it WILL be able to isolate and interpret the signal. Please note that "HDTV ready" or "HDTV monitor" is a TV which DOES NOT have any tuner inside it and requires an external tuner..

So I Need To Buy A New TV?

Not necessarily. All you need is a new tuner. Buying a new TV with DTV tuner in it is an option, but other options exist. Electronics stores are currently selling what they call a DTV set-top box, or DTV converter box. It's a device containing a DTV tuner that you would set near your TV. Your set-top box would take the signals from the OTA transmissions, isolate and interpret, and then spit the signal out to your TV in an analog signal that it understands.

These set-top boxes can be found for about $50-$80. Since the government is forcing this switch on us, they have decided to help us out on purchasing these set-top boxes. There is currently a $40 rebate form which you can use toward the purchase of one of these boxes. Up to two rebates can be used per house, so if you have seven TVs that need to be outfitted with set-top boxes, you are on your own for five of them. The rebate form can be found here.

Here are are a few set-top boxes available on Amazon:


There are also several available at other retailers such as Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and BSAT.net.

With these converter boxes, you will be able to use your existing TV and can avoid having to buy a costly new TV set. There are, however, downsides to this method. These converter boxes take the digital signal and convert it to a standard analog signal. This means if you have an HDTV signal coming in, it will be downgraded to an SDTV signal because that's all your TV can handle, thus you don't get all the benefits of HDTV. Another thing to note is that your TV will have to stay on Channel 3 or A/V input and the converter box is where you will do all your channel changing.

So If I Buy A Converter Box For My Old TV I'm Set, Right?

In a sense, yes, you are ready to view DTV on your existing TV. However, you may still have some problems if you like to record TV programs; especially if you use a timer record feature. A VCR, DVR, or DVD Recorder (I'll just use VCR from now on as they all work similarly) also has a tuner built in to it so it can interpret the signal and record it. Unless you have one built specifically for DTV, the VCR's tuner will be an analog one. This means that if you want to be able to record any programming, you will have to hook the converter box up BEFORE the VCR. So the cabling would go from the antenna to converter box to VCR to TV. This would allow you to record programming, but has some MAJOR downsides to it.

First, when you want to record a show, you'll have to manually set the channel to record on the converter box and set the VCR to record on Channel 3 or A/V input. That's fine if you're around when the show starts, but what about a timed recording session? You'd have to remember to set the channel on the set top box before hand AND remember to leave it turned on. If you're going to be gone for a few days and want to record programs on multiple channels, you're out of luck. The converter box will only stay on one channel. The next problem is that you won't be able to record a show and watch a different show at the same time. Today, most people can do this because their VCR and TV each have separate tuners allowing each to tune to different channels. But if you have one converter box hooked up as described above, then the VCR and TV will always be on the same channel. This problem could be fixed by buying a two converter boxes for the TV and the VCR. Then things get complex in wiring and remote usage, and you'd want to make sure they were different model converters so they weren't picking up each others' remote control signals.

So if you just watch TV and rarely record it, the set top box might be a good option for you.

What's The Best Way To Record My Shows Then?

The best way is to get a DVR with a digital tuner in it and a TV with a digital tuner in it. That way the devices don't require a converter. You'll be able to do timer recording and watch a show on TV at the same time as recording another. The only problem is that DVRs with digital tuners are currently sparse on selection and the ones that do exist are rather expensive. This will get better in the future though.

Do I Need to Buy An HDTV Antenna To Get The DTV Signal?

Short answer: No! Companies have been labeling antennas as HDTV antennas as a marketing ploy. As mentioned earlier, DTV will use the same frequencies that analog TV used. This means existing antennas will still be able to pick up the signals on those frequencies. Our current OTA channel line up is broken down into 3 bands: VHF-Lo (Channels 2-6), VHF-Hi (Channels 7-13), and UHF (Channels 14-69). DTV will use the same bands.

In the old days, having a low channel number was coveted because it was easy to remember, but those days are long gone. The VHF-Lo channels are actually considered to be poorer choices now because of how difficult it is to get a good signal to the viewer. If you've seen a roof-top style antenna, you're probably familiar with the different lengths of arms sticking out from the antenna forming an arrow shape. Those arms are each tuned for a specific frequency. The lower channels have frequencies that require wider arms. Arms tuned specifically for Channel 2 will be about 110 inches wide making for a very large antenna. The UHF portion of an antenna is generally MUCH smaller than the VHF portion, especially the VHF-Lo band portion.

Due to the problems with VHF, especially VHF-Lo, it was expected that most stations would abandon their current frequency for a new UHF frequency during the switch. Manufacturers started making UHF-only antennas and marketing them as HDTV antennas. It turns out that many stations are preferring to stick with their current VHF frequency, and some (although few) are even sticking with their VHF-Lo frequency. So that means that people that have a UHF-only antenna will have a very hard time trying to receive DTV stations on VHF channels.

I Have An HDTV And A UHF-Only Antenna And I'm Getting All My Local Channels So I'm Good, Right?

Not necessarily. For the past couple years most stations have been broadcasting both their analog signal and their digital signal. Since many stations are keeping their current frequency after the switch, they've been broadcasting their DTV signal on temporary frequencies for the past couple years. This means that Channel 7 could be broadcasting analog on Channel 7 and DTV on Channel 42 right now, but once the switch is done, they will turn off Channel 42 and just broadcast DTV on Channel 7. So if you have a UHF-only antenna, you will be out of luck. To find out how the stations in your area will stack up after the switch check out the FCC's final station selection list (Excel File).

So What Should I Do About My Antenna?

If all the channels you wish to receive will be in the UHF band, then you can get by with a UHF-only antenna. If you need some VHF and UFH channels, you will need a combination antenna like the kind people currently use. If all of your channels are in VHF-Hi or UHF, you could get by with a combination antenna that is smaller and will ignore the VHF-Lo band. Check one out at Denny's Antenna Service.

For the most part, if you already have a VHF/UHF antenna that is working well, it will probably be fine for DTV as well. The only thing to be concerned about is the quality of your current reception. As mentioned earlier, on analog, you can watch a channel that has really poor reception, but on digital if you drop below the threshold of quality, the picture will just go away. So if most of your channels come in really poorly, you might want to invest in a more sensitive or more directional antenna. A great resource for antenna selection is AntennaWeb.org. On this site, you can put in your exact location and it will tell you what class of antenna you need and which direction to point it to get the best reception.

If you currently use rabbit ears, they will probably still work with a DTV signal if you are close to the source. Rabbit ear antennas are not very powerful, so distance is a factor when using them.

Summary

In summary, a change in television signals in coming in under a year. If you do nothing, your old television sets will not be able to display the new signals. You can either upgrade your TV (high initial expense), get a converter box (low expense, multiple downsides), or get cable or dish (recurring costs and lower picture quality than OTD HDTV). HDTV antennas are just marketing words for UHF-only antennas and may not be useful if you need to watch VHF channels. For the most part, an existing antenna that is picking up analog signals pretty clearly should be usable for DTV.

So take the steps necessary to ensure you can watch TV after the switch and then sit back and enjoy the crystal clear TV.

If you have any questions I could possibly answer, leave a comment to this post.

Links

http://www.dtv.gov/ - Official site for the DTV switch.
https://www.dtv2009.gov/ - Government rebate form for digital converter boxes.
Wal-Mart - Digital converter box.
Best Buy - Digital converter box.
BSAT.net - Digital converter box.
FCC-07-138A2.xls - FCC List of final channel frequency selections (MS Excel 270KB).
AntennaWeb.org - Advice on antenna purchasing and positioning.
Cruthfield Electronics - Tutorial on antennas for DTV.

HDTVs:


DVR for HDTV:


TV Antennas:

Since I missed it in January, I thought I'd go ahead and post the list of the most popular posts in 2007. So here they are:

1. Is This Hunting Or Fishing? - Contains link to a video of people bow hunting for Asian Carp. Also includes some information on the problems created by this invasive species.

2. What? Worms Are Bad For The Ground? - Information about invasive species of earthworms and how they can damage forest vegetation.

3. Pay-Per-Channel Television Service - My musings on how great it would be if cable/dish providers would allow us to choose only the channels we wanted and then charge us for just those channels.

4. Are The Sun's Rays Weaker? - Questioning the ability of the sun to burn us due to the carbon-laden air. The resulting comments are very informative.

5. Chris Dodd Might As Well Give Up - I hate to say it Chris, but I was right. You lasted little longer than 1 or 2 caucuses/primaries and what do you have to show for it? A bunch of wasted time, money, and resources. You were never a contender.

Well, there you have the top 5 of 2007. Enjoy.

I was looking for information about the Gerber Viper toilet since we are currently looking at plumbing fixtures for our new home. I found one plumber's website that has a video demonstration of the flushing power of the Viper.

I was surprised by how much this thing can handle. It's a 1.6 gallon per flush, gravity-fed toilet. There's no pressurized air to assist, and still, this thing handles everything they throw at it.

Aside from that, the video is kind of funny to watch all them flush all this stuff.

Check it out at:
Gerber Viper Toilet Demonstration

Last year, I started a web project that I thought was a killer idea. The site, Pantoozle.com was a repository of ratings and reviews of businesses and service providers that could be localized to your city/metro area. The project was conceived because I noticed the people I worked with were always looking for recommendations or advice on where to purchase a particular item, who had the best services, what doctors were best, etc. I wrote several reviews for businesses in my local area, as did some other people. Unfortunately, I didn't have the time to keep at it, and the site has been very slow over the past six months. I'd like to revive it again as I still think it could be a really useful tool for people.

The website is completely free, but does require registration to post a review (to cut down on spam posting).

If you have a review that you can post about a local business or service provider, head over to Pantoozle.com and post away!

I thought I'd share a link to a site that I've found particularly useful for a while now. The author goes by Mr. Electricity and the site can be found at http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/.

Mr. Electricity used to take questions from readers, but has discontinued this option. However, this site still has tons of great information on how electricity is used in your home, how you can reduce your usage, and ultimately how you can save on your electric bill.

Electric usage is very simple when you look at the math. Watts = Volts x Amps. Volts and amps are listed on most electrical devices. You can then calculate the wattage for that particular device. Electric companies charge you by the kilowatt-hour (kWh) which is the number of kilowatts of electricity used on an hourly basis. So if you have a 1,000 watt device running for 1 hour, you just racked up 1 kWh. Or if you leave a 60 watt light bulb on for 2 hours, you’ve used 0.12 kWh. If you multiply that by your electric rate (displayed on your bill), you will be able to calculate the actual cost to run that device for that amount of time. I have used this site to help calculate my usage increase in December due to Christmas lights.

The site also goes into several electricity myths such as leaving the AC on all day is more efficient than leaving it off and then turning it on when you get home. It is conventional wisdom that this is true. People believe that it is more efficient to keep a house cooled to 75 degrees all day than it is to let it heat up and then cool it to 75 all in one shot. As Mr. Electricity explains, this is false because the house can only get so hot. If you leave your AC off, the house will reach a peak temperature. If you cool all day, the A/C will continually bring the temperature down, the house will reheat, and the AC will have to cool again. So, his point is that cooling the house to 75 degrees once is more efficient than doing it many times during the day.

Finally, another of my favorite sections of this site is the chart that gives you an approximate value on the electric usage of common household devices. Not surprisingly, anything that heats or cools (electric heat, oven, clothes dryer, central air) are high on the list. But you may be surprised to find out that your little coffee maker is using more electricity than your refrigerator. Or you might be surprised that: Running your AC 12 hours a day for three weeks uses more energy than leaving the refrigerator door open 24 hours a day for a whole year.

Have fun learning about electricity usage, and hopefully finding some ways to help reduce your own usage (and your bills).