Consumer electronics consume a lot of electricity in most households, which can be expensive in times of high electricity prices. The energy advice from the consumer advice centers and selected studies therefore give the best energy consumer tips on how to save electricity and which devices are particularly energy-efficient.
Many will have long since checked the larger energy consumers in the household and may now want to explore further savings potential. From computers to televisions to smartphones – everyone has these devices at home.
First of all, it should be checked what, on average, how much electricity is used for. An average two-person household uses around 3050 kilowatt hours a year. This corresponds to around 80 euros in electricity costs per month, explains the energy advice service of the consumer advice centres. In order to provide information about the EU energy label and saving electricity, the advice also has a detailed brochure released.
Entertainment electronics consumes a quarter of the electricity in the home
Consumer electronics, such as televisions and game consoles, account for 28 percent, i.e. a little more than a quarter of total electricity consumption. The Federal Association of Energy and Water Management (BDEW) has collected this for the year 2021.
For comparison: According to this study, washing and drying consume 14 percent of the electricity, lights 13 percent and refrigerators and freezers 11 percent. Cooking and washing up follow with 9 and 8 percent respectively. Altogether 55 percent.
Of course, these are all just average values that do not exactly reflect every household. After all, not everyone owns the same devices and uses them to the same extent.
TVs and consoles consume the most
In the consumer electronics category, however, there are clear differences in consumption. Joshua Jahn from the Brandenburg consumer advice center says: “The biggest power guzzlers are televisions and game consoles”. Operating an average television costs around 80 euros a year. Game consoles cost around 50 euros a year if you use them every day, says Jahn.
How much electricity a device consumes often depends not only on its energy efficiency class but also quite simply on its size, explains Jahn: “A very large television with the best energy efficiency class still uses significantly more electricity than a smaller television in the worst class”.
In fact, older televisions and those with a screen diagonal of more than one meter can consume an average of 200 kilowatt hours a year. According to the Federal Environment Agency, this could be used to operate two efficient refrigerators, for example.
You might also be interested in: 6 tips for saving electricity in the home
Size matters too
Computers also show that size is relevant when it comes to power consumption. Because a desktop PC consumes significantly more power than a laptop, says Jahn. “A desktop PC with a tower costs me around 35 euros a year, a laptop just 10 euros.”
The consumption of a computer is also decisively determined by its equipment, explains Sebastian Klöß from the IT industry association Bitkom: “A sophisticated gaming PC with a high-performance processor and a huge graphics card simply needs more power under full load than a standard PC or a notebook that trimmed to save electricity.”
The device that hardly affects the electricity bill is actually the smartphone. If you charge your phone every day, you use around 7.5 kilowatt hours a year, which would have cost around 2.80 euros a year to operate your smartphone at previous electricity prices, says Klöß. Smart speakers, for example, would have just as little impact on the electricity bill.
Also read: How much can you make with one kilowatt hour of electricity?
Switch off the WLAN at night and save electricity
It’s also worth turning off the router at night when it’s not in use, or at least the WiFi. “A router like this doesn’t have a high performance, but the fact that it runs 24 hours a day all year round easily costs 40 euros a year,” explains Jahn. With many routers, switch-off times can be automated in the settings.
If you want to save electricity when streaming at home, you can do so by reducing the brightness and using smaller devices, explains Sebastian Klöß. Watching your favorite series on your laptop or smartphone instead of on the television definitely reduces electricity costs. And those who do without the high-contrast function (HDR) on newer televisions also reduce consumption.
With material from dpa