(See Typical Power Consumption List for help w/this worksheet)
 

• An old 1976-86 fridge can use 1400 kWh/yr, a pre-2001 fridge may average 500 kWh/yr, and a 2002 or newer EnergyStar might use 425 kWh/yr.
• Power companies bill in kilowatt hours (kWh).  1 kWh represents 1000 watts of electricity being used for 1 hour (or 1 watt for 1000 hours).
• Beware - the “hour” part of the unit mentioned above sometimes becomes invisible or assumed (and is sometimes on top and sometimes on bottom as in Whr or W/hr.)
• Watts = Volts x Amps.  Appliances have data plates or spec sheets giving either watts or amps with which you can calculate hourly or daily requirements.  If given in watts, that’s how many watts you would use if you ran that appliance at maximum FOR AN HOUR.
• "Maximum" is like full volume or leaving fridge door open so always running.  Variable speed devices or appliances that cycle on/off average roughly 20% of maximum. 
• National average household daily grid electrical energy usage:  31 kWh   (Note:  Take this statistic w/a grain of salt.  It’s based on 2007 census and definition of “household”.)  Another way to look at the usage above is that every household is using just over 1 kW EVERY HOUR of EVERY DAY.
• Many of us have no idea of our electrical power consumption.  We know how many miles per gallon our vehicle gets, how many gallons it holds, and how much each gallon costs, but not how many kilowatts we use a day, how many watts it takes to make a cup of coffee or watch a movie, or what it costs.  It helps to treat stored electricity like a rationed or finite commodity (water during a drought; gas during a shortage) and conserve when possible. 
• Have you ever been an hour or two into a power outage yet STILL walk over and flip a light switch expecting light?  Or leave the TV on on the Weather Channel all day like we’re trying to stop doing?  We in the US tend to take our grid for granted because for the most part, it’s always been there providing cheap, reliable power.  But what if the price increased, the grid failed, or you just want power where there is no grid or during a power outage?  
• Because our most frequently asked question is “What will a SUNRNR run?”, part of our mission has become educating consumers in understanding that the answer to that question is all based on load and time.  A SUNRNR can be perfect for many applications, but keep learning about your requirements/options and see if a SUNRNR is appropriate for your application.  We would prefer to lose a sale than to have a dissatisfied SUNRNR-owner.