Why am I doing it?

Well, obviously by turning off the freezer I will be able to eliminate a hefty source of energy consumption.  This will result in lower energy consumption, lower energy bill and less emissions from the power plant!

How much energy will I save?

Let’s see, my little freezer draws 5 amps of current and a voltage of 115 volts.  It is quite old, so assuming that it runs 50% of the time during cooler months here in Florida, I should be able to save

115V * 5A / 1000 * 30 days * 24 hrs * 50% = 207 kilowatt-hours per month of energy.

How much money will I save?

207 kilowatt-hours * $0.103 per kw-hour =  $21.32 per month

Not bad for unnecessary appliance!

What about summer months?  I’ll assume the freezer in on 75% of the time, since the temperature inside stuffy garage during Florida summer can easily reach 100+ degrees Fahrenheit. In this case I will save

310 kilowatt-hours of energy and $32 per month

Even better!  So bye bye freezer!

Basically, is it worth doing?

This question is individual for every household.  Some households spend a lot of energy on lighting and some don’t.

Here is an example based on my home.  I estimated my monthly energy savings if I were to replace my incandescent bulbs with the CFL bulbs.  I’m not counting the existing fluorescent lights we use in the kitchen, since I’m not planning to replace them.

Here is what I did:

1. I checked out what wattage bulbs we use in our light fixtures throughout the house.
2. I estimated how many hours per week each light fixture is ON.
3. I used this conversion chart taken from www.energystar.gov to find what substitute CFL light bulbs I need.
   
4. I calculated how much money I would save on my monthly energy bill by replacing incandescent lights with the CFL lights.  Here are my findings:

You can create the same chart either by hand or by using my spreadsheet to estimate your savings.

Once you find out your energy savings, you can check out how much it would cost to replace the incandescent lights.  Walmart.com and lowes.com have large selections of CFL light bulbs.  I estimated that I would have to spend about $70 to replace all of my bulbs to CFLs.  I’m sure as the time passes they will get less expensive.

One thing to keep in mind is that CFL lights last longer than the incandescent lights.  It’s a definite saving!  I love this table I found, it summarizes all the important attributes of LED, incandescent and CFL lights.