Energy Use Appliances

Which Electronic Devices Use The Most Energy?

RYDER FUSCELLARO

QUESTION

Which Electronic Devices Use The Most Energy?

HYPOTHESIS

I predict that the laptop will use the most energy because it is one of the bigger devices, and it’s battery will continue to draw energy even when at 100%, ultimately wasting energy.

PROCEDURE

• 1. Pick 10 different electronic devices.

  2. Use a machine called a Kill A Watt to find the amount of energy each device used.

  3. Test each device to discover whether or not the individual device uses energy while being turned off, and or while being used.

  4. For devices that were fully charged test whether or not the device wasted energy at a maximum charge of 100%.

CONCLUSION

From my experiment, I discovered that some electronic devices drain energy like a modern-day vampire. While the devices that run solely off of an outlet only drain energy while being used; devices that have a rechargeable battery drain energy even while at 100%.

DATA TABLE

GRAPH

ABSTRACT

The project I chose to do this year allowed me to determine which electronic devices use the most energy? There is a rule in my house that states you are not allowed to have “plugs to nowhere.” The reasoning behind this rule is that my mom is afraid that the end of the plugs that goes into the device will start to smoke or catch fire if not attached to a device. I wanted see if this was actually true, as I am one of the main culprits to violating this rule. I predicted that the laptop would waste the most energy, because it is one of the biggest devices. It also needs to be charged, which means that it can waste more energy while at 100%.

To conduct my experiment, I used a device called a Kill-a-Watt. It plugs into an outlet in the wall, and you can plug a device into it. I then set the device to watt mode, and recorded the number on the screen while the device was being used. I tested 10 different devices for my experiment. I also recorded the number while the device was not being used.

From the data that I collected, I could predict that devices that require a charge waste the most energy. The printer was the only one that used energy while turned off, and it still used a small amount. What I discovered, was that the laptop charge wasted the most energy.

From my experiment, I can conclude that there are some real life electronic vampires. Devices that require a charge (have a rechargeable battery), waste the most energy. My hypothesis was correct because the laptop did waste the most energy. While at 100%, it wasted 16 watts. I also learned that by plugging in my data into the equation w/1000 x h (watts divided by 1000 times the amount of hours), I discovered the amount of kilowatt hours devices used. Furthermore, I could convert this once again to find out how much money is on an electric bill. Multiplying kilowatt hours any given month by the amount of money per kilowatt hour, you will get the amount of money you will be charged each month on your bill. This is important because it will help some conserve energy, and ultimately cut down their electric bill. I could improve my experiment by testing even more devices as well as using the same outlet for every device.