Are you worried your smartphone addiction also comes with hidden additional costs, like a higher energy bill? You actually shouldn’t as the yearly cost for charging your fancy toys, including your iPhone, iPad and Android devices, is more than affordable.
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According to Forbes, charging an iPad every day for a year will require 12kWh of electricity per year, which will cost you a whopping $1.50.
A smartphone with a 1,440 mAh battery will require 2,000-watt hours of energy per year or 2kWh. That would amount to $0.25 per year – and that’s assuming you charge your phone every day. Obviously, newer iPhone and Android devices have bigger batteries, but that simply means the costs will go slightly up, so add a few cents per year to your electricity budget.
Your laptop computer is a bit more expensive to keep charged during the year. It’ll cost you $8/year to provide some 72kWh of power to your notebook.
Here’s what other electronics and home appliances (and a Tesla) cost to keep powered on for a year:
- Heating and cooling: $1,000 per year. This is the biggest electricity cost in most homes.
- Water heater: $600 per year, which amounts to 18% of the average home’s energy bill.
- Tesla: $450 per year assuming you drive 15,000 miles a year. 85kWh of electricity gives the Tesla a 300-mile range for about $10.
- Clothes washer and dryer: $300 per year. $100 of that is used by the washer, assuming it’s a newer model, and some $200 is needed for drying all your clothes each year.
- Desktop computer: $46 per year, as it uses 390kWh each year. $10 of that is for your wireless modem and router.
- Refrigerator: $42 per year. Your new fridge needs just 350kWh of electricity to operate for a year, compared to older models (think 1980 and older) whose energy consumption can go up to 1,400mWh per year.
- Plasma TV: 360kWh of power a year if used for 5 hours per day, or around $45 per year. LCD TVs will cost you just $20 per year.
- Xbox One: $40 per year based on average usage habits
- 60-watt light bulb: $26 per year if using a standard light bulb for 10 hours a day (220kWh of electricity per year)
- LED light bulb: $4.40 per year, as it requires just 10 watts of power to offer the same amount of light as a 60-watt incandescent bulb. Annual consumption is at 37kWh.
- Microwave: $0.04 for 15 minutes on high. Obviously, yearly microwave usage varies.
