Unplug it.
Need it again?
Plug it in.
Repeat.
At first, I was convinced I would see a meaningful difference on my next electricity bill.
After all, if an appliance is plugged in all day and night, surely cutting off its electricity whenever it isn’t being used has to make some difference.
Right?
Well, yes—but there is an important detail.
The amount of electricity a microwave uses while sitting idle is generally much smaller than the amount it consumes while actually running.
A microwave can draw hundreds or even more than a thousand watts while cooking, depending on the model and its settings.
But standby consumption is typically far lower.
The clock and electronic controls don’t require anything close to the power needed to heat food.
That meant my experiment wasn’t really about eliminating the microwave’s major energy consumption.
It was about eliminating a tiny amount of electricity that might be used while the microwave was sitting there doing absolutely nothing.
And that distinction turned out to matter.
During the first few days, I found myself becoming hyper-aware of all the other appliances in my kitchen.
The microwave wasn’t the only thing plugged in.
There was the coffee maker.
The toaster.
The refrigerator.
The dishwasher.
Phone chargers.
Small kitchen appliances.
The television in the next room.
And suddenly I started wondering whether unplugging the microwave was actually targeting the right thing.
The refrigerator, for example, obviously needs to remain connected because it has an actual job to do continuously.
The microwave doesn’t.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean the microwave is a major source of electricity consumption.
This is where I think a lot of us get confused about energy savings.
We see an appliance that’s plugged in and assume that electricity must be flowing through it at a significant rate.
But “plugged in” and “using a lot of electricity” aren’t the same thing.
Some devices consume very little power when they’re idle.
Others can consume more.
And the only way to know for sure is to measure them.
