Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

  • Shop
  • Subscribe to BMG
  • Contact
  • Log In
  • Front Page
  • All Posts
  • About
  • Rules
  • Events
  • Register on BMG

The Doorbell Dilemma (NOT Palin, McCain, Gustav)

September 2, 2008 By smart-mass

If your home is like mine, your doorbell is electric. Why electric? Who knows. But from what I’ve been able to find with Google, electric doorbells started to become popular in the early 1900s. Back then, we probably didn’t think much about the electricity cost or environmental impact of a doorbell. Not any more.

How does an electric doorbell work? It’s pretty simple. When a visitor presses the doorbell button, the button closes a circuit sending electricity from your circuit panel to some sort of noise making device – a buzzer, a solenoid-struck chime, or perhaps an electronically generated tone or tune.

Nowadays, most doorbells run on 24 volt AC Current. This was likely done for safety reasons and it makes sense. Doorbell buttons are outside and often get wet. Should you ever have a “short” in the doorbell button, your guest won’t get electrocuted (they may be shocked if you come to the door naked however – insert rim shot here 🙂

Unfortunately, US homes are wired for 120/240 volt AC current. So to get the voltage down to 24V, when the electrician installed your doorbell, he or she also installed a transformer in your circuit panel like the one in the photo.

In the photo, you see the transformer (large silver/gray thing) and wires. On the right side of the transformer are red and white wires. Those run to my doorbell in the front hallway. From there wires run to my doorbell buttons (oddly, I have a doorbell button at my back door as well)

On the left side of the transformer are white and black wires. They are connected into my circuit panel.
If you’ve followed my writing, you know that transformers are “phantom loads” and use power all the time, whether the device they power is on or off. Furthermore, many doorbell buttons have lights behind them. Naturally lights use power too. I wanted to figure out how much power my doorbell was using. So I got out my trusty Kill-A-Watt.

In order to measure power usage with the Kill-A-Watt however, I had to disconnect the doorbell from the circuit panel and put a plug on it. Then I plugged the doorbell into the Kill-A-Watt and plugged the Kill-A-Watt into the wall.

The Kill-A-Watt did its thing and in a few seconds, I was shocked (not electrically 🙂 to learn that my doorbell transformer and button lights draw a total of three watts of power. That’s 3 watts 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

One year is 8,760 hours. 3 watts x 8,760 hours / 1000 = 26.28 kilowatt-hours to run my doorbell. At my electricity rates that’s about $3.15. Not much right? Let me make it more interesting…

There are about 5,000 homes in Hudson, MA. Lets assume that 80% of the homes have working doorbells. 80% x 5,000 = 4,000. Let’s also assume that all the doorbells draw 3 watts (I bet the older ones draw more). 4,000 x 8,760 x 3 / 1,000 = 105,200 kilowatt hours per year – enough electricity to power 10.5 average homes for a year. Ouch.

Want scarier? As of the year 2007, the US Census estimates that Massachusetts has approximately 2,700,000 households. Again, assuming 80% have working doorbells like mine, that’s 2,160,000 doorbells using 3 watts of power. 56,764,800 kilowatt-hours or 56.7 megawatt-hours of electricity to run Massachusetts’ Doorbells. Enough to power 5,676 average homes for a year (all of Hudson’s homes in fact).

How about the nation? The US Census estimates 127,901,934 homes. Using the same 80% assumption, that’s 2,689,010,261 kilowatt hours. Enough power to run about 268,900 average homes for a year. (95% of the homes in Alaska or 100% of the homes in Wyoming).

Nationwide, each kilowatt-hour of generated electricity is responsible for about 1.34 lbs of carbon dioxide. 2,689,010,261 kilowatt-hours leads to 1,801,640 tons of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere… for doorbells, sigh.

When you next visit my home, please use your fist, shout, or use the knocker; It’s a bronze acorn in the middle of my front door. Don’t go to the backdoor, that doorbell no longer works.

And, in case you forget, there’s a sign above the doorbell button out front:

Mark

Please share widely!
fb-share-icon
Tweet
0
0

Filed Under: User Tagged With: carbon-dioxide, climate-change, electricity, energy, random, saving-energy

Comments

  1. shillelaghlaw says

    September 3, 2008 at 4:52 pm

    I grew up in a house that was built ca. 1890. Instead of an electric doorbell, it had a doorbell which looked something like this, only tarnished:

    <

    p>

    <

    p>The bell would on the indoors side of the door, and the little crank on the right would be on the outside. It worked well enough. (And the good thing about these kinds of doorbells is that the person ringing the bell can hear it too.)  

    • smart-mass says

      September 3, 2008 at 7:22 pm

      And thanks all for the recommends.

      <

      p>Someone just asked me about a solar powered doorbell. While possible, I asked why. Why put any more energy into the doorbell – especially with ones like the antique in the previous post.

      <

      p>I see a new business opportunity in remaking classic doorbells…

      <

      p>Mark

    • lightiris says

      September 4, 2008 at 8:32 pm

      I’d love to have something like that because my electric ones are broken (old house c. 1926), and I use the stick-on battery operated type.  I’ll have to look around.  Thanks for the reminder.  

  2. marcus-graly says

    September 3, 2008 at 7:25 pm

    I’d rather see people turning off lights and unplugging electronics, when not in use, but every bit helps, I suppose.

    • smart-mass says

      September 3, 2008 at 7:40 pm

      No doubt there are much bigger fish to fry here and yes every little bit helps.

      <

      p>The article was primarily to point out two things.
      First, we use electricity in ways we’ve even forgotten about and need to look real hard.
      Second, We don’t need to use electricity to do everything

      <

      p>I was just reminded about electric knifes and even worse,  “salad shooters”

      <

      p>M.

Recommended Posts

  • No posts liked yet.

Recent User Posts

Predictions Open Thread

December 22, 2022 By jconway

This is why I love Joe Biden

December 21, 2022 By fredrichlariccia

Garland’s Word

December 19, 2022 By terrymcginty

Some Parting Thoughts

December 19, 2022 By jconway

Beware the latest grift

December 16, 2022 By fredrichlariccia

Thank you, Blue Mass Group!

December 15, 2022 By methuenprogressive

Recent Comments

  • blueeyes on Beware the latest griftSo where to, then??
  • Christopher on Some Parting ThoughtsI've enjoyed our discussions as well (but we have yet to…
  • Christopher on Beware the latest griftI can't imagine anyone of our ilk not already on Twitter…
  • blueeyes on Beware the latest griftI will miss this site. Where are people going? Twitter?…
  • chrismatth on This site (will be disabled on) December 31, 2022I joined BMG late - 13 years ago next month and three da…
  • SomervilleTom on Geopolitics of FusionEVERY un-designed, un-built, and un-tested technology is…
  • Charley on the MTA on This site (will be disabled on) December 31, 2022That’s a great idea, and I’ll be there on Sunday. It’s a…

Archive

@bluemassgroup on Twitter

#mapoli

teambrandy617 Brandy Fluker Oakley @teambrandy617 ·
5m

Great speech from @MayorWu at the State of the City! She captured aspects of the @CityofBoston that we all love, and also recognized all of the work that is needed to continue improving our communities! #Mattapan #HydePark #Dorchester #MApoli #Bospoli

4

Reply on Twitter 1619708621646069762 Retweet on Twitter 1619708621646069762 Like on Twitter 1619708621646069762 Twitter 1619708621646069762
mikestand5 Michael Cole @mikestand5 ·
30m

Class is in session. UMass President @MartyMeehan joins @EdWCVB @SharmanTV for a cram session on the challenges and opportunities in Higher Ed. #wcvb’s OTR, Sunday 11 AM. Plus @maryannemarsh @GrayMediaGroup on AI and @MayorWu’s State of the City. #bospoli #mapoli @universalhub

Reply on Twitter 1619702081677561857 Retweet on Twitter 1619702081677561857 2 Like on Twitter 1619702081677561857 3 Twitter 1619702081677561857
jeffsemonma Jeff Semon @jeffsemonma ·
40m

🚨🚨🚨live @therinopodcast around 10:30 w @thefactualprep covering #mapoli and beyond, tune in!!

Reply on Twitter 1619699798680150017 Retweet on Twitter 1619699798680150017 Like on Twitter 1619699798680150017 Twitter 1619699798680150017
maryannemarsh Mary Anne Marsh @maryannemarsh ·
50m

.@MartyMeehan @UMass
is our guest today on OTR with @EdWCVB and @SharmanTV. @GrayMediaGroup and I discuss @JakeAuch and AI, @MayorWu and housing as well as #sportsbetting and @LEGO_Group come to Massachusetts and more. Please join us @WCVB at 11 AM. #mapoli #bospoli #wcvb

Reply on Twitter 1619697157866655745 Retweet on Twitter 1619697157866655745 Like on Twitter 1619697157866655745 4 Twitter 1619697157866655745
dspangallo Dominick Pangallo @dspangallo ·
1h

Many thanks to the North Shore @MAYoungDems chapter for the engaging discussions at your meeting yesterday! As Vice Chair of the @salemdemcc I’m grateful for the work the Young Democrats do to help elect candidates who share our values, here in #SalemMA and across #mapoli.

Reply on Twitter 1619693319667466243 Retweet on Twitter 1619693319667466243 Like on Twitter 1619693319667466243 Twitter 1619693319667466243
usw12012 USW Gas Workers 12012-04 @usw12012 ·
1h

Good luck @WoburnTeachers!! USW 12012 has your back. Teachers aren’t “replaceable” and you deserve a fair contract. We support you! ✊🏻#mapoli #UnionStrong

WTA @WoburnTeachers

We were ready to negotiate today. Our Mayor and School Committee were not.

Our last negotiation was Wednesday January 18th - Mayor Scott Galvin did NOT show up.

Reply on Twitter 1619690220911493124 Retweet on Twitter 1619690220911493124 Like on Twitter 1619690220911493124 Twitter 1619690220911493124
Load More

From our sponsors




Google Calendar







Search

Archives

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter




Copyright © 2023 Owned and operated by BMG Media Empire LLC. Read the terms of use. Some rights reserved.