The Oil Drum

The difference between electricity and conventional food shopping is this: If you are trying to save money on your food bill you can substitute less expensive foods for more expensive ones (broccoli instead of asparagus, salmon instead of lobster, store brand products instead of major brand, fruits/veggies that are in season instead of ones flown half way around the world, etc); with electricity, the average consumer doesn't have any idea between the relative costs of running two different televisions, various different lights, using the toaster oven verses a microwave verses the regular oven, etc.

One thing consumers really need is a Kill-A-Watt power usage monitor. It's basically a power strip that measures the power and energy going through it. You can learn very quickly where your power is going. One surprising example for me: my Mac Mini Duo + external hard disk + 23-inch LCD monitor + laser printer + digital TV tuner + powered TV ariel all together draw LESS power when in standby than my cell-phone charger even when the cell phone isn't present! So, instead of carefully shutting down all my computer equipment every night I spend less time and gain more by unplugging the cell phone charger. As for the toaster oven verses microwave verses regular oven: the microwave is the most efficient by far; the toaster oven is better for small/short tasks, but the regular oven eventually gains ground due to its insulation.