Keeping the energy bill down: Which home appliances use more power?

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Summer is heating up here in Texas, and many are dreading our electric bills that come along with the rise in temperatures.

You might be wondering if there are ways to save in some areas of your home.

Here are some appliance comparisons from Reliant, so you can better use your power where you need it most.

• Dishwasher: 330 watts per hour
• Desktop computer: 75 watts per hour

Dishwashers consume more energy because power is needed to make the machine run and to heat the water, Reliant said. If you want to lessen the blow, you can run your dishwasher on the light cycle and turn off heated drying.

• Hair dryer: 710 watts per hour
• Ceiling fan: 35 watts per hour

Reliant said you’d need to run your ceiling fan for over 20 hours to use the same amount of energy as a hair dryer in one hour. A high dryer has to heat up to a high degree for it to be effective. To cut back, you can choose to air-dry your hair instead.

• Iron: 1,100 watts per hour
• Microwave oven: 1,500 watts per hour

Heat is a theme here. These are small appliances that still require a lot of energy because of heating. The microwave uses more power in this scenario, because it uses radio waves, according to Reliant.

You can view the full list of appliance comparisons on Reliant’s website.