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Microwave vs. Stove - which one is more energy efficient?

energy efficient microwaveYour microwave is a much more efficient way to heat or reheat than your stove top, mainly because your stovetop wastes quite a fair amount of heat. Your microwave uses about 80 percent less energy than your stove for heating up relatively small amounts of food. 

Even though your microwave uses a lot of electricity, it’s a small burst of power vs. the long, delayed energy used to heat up your stove. Of course, you can save some of the energy you’re using on your stove by using pots that are size appropriate to the burner. The EPA warns that using a six inch pot on an eight inch burner can waste the majority of the burner’s heat.

You can heat up a cup of ice cold water to boiling in an 800-watt microwave in 2.5 minutes. To find out how much energy that would take, you calculate the amount of electricity used in kilowatt hours (kWh) by taking the device’s wattage and multiplying it by the time. So 2.5 minutes = 0.042 hours, and 800 watts is .8 kW. Multiplying kWh capacity by time, we get .8(0.042) = .034 kWh to heat the cup of water.

So, when you want a great reason to do dinner the easy way and need some scientific numbers to back it up, refer back to this blog and pop that plate in the microwave - to save money of course.

Check out our substainability page for more energy saving tips. 

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Welcome to the Neighborhood!

Tuesday, December 21, 2021

John's Electric Service strives to give the best possible service through:

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New homeowners should never ignore these electrical responsibilities.

Monday, August 9, 2021

Whether the issue is large or small, problems with electricity are often ignored until they become apparent.  It's easy to avoid thinking about problems that can occur in our appliances, circuit breakers, wall outlets, and even light bulbs. But often, ignoring issues while they are small leads to more significant problems and the necessity for the help of an electrician.

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About John's Electric

Linn Park Fountain, Birmingham, AL

John's Electric Inc. is a family owned and operated electrical contractor business that proudly provides electrician services in Birmingham, AL and the surrounding areas such as Hoover, Homewood, Chelsea, Vestavia Hills, Pelham, Alabaster, Trussville, and Mountain Brook. John's Electric provides residential and commercial electrical solutions at competitive rates. We have been in this line of work for 30 years, giving us not only experience but expertise as well. You can depend on us. We are a state licensed electrician (#03875) for your protection.

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What others say about John's Electric Service

Mr. Teele arrived quickly, diagnosed our outage problem and fixed it that same afternoon. We have an older electrical system that many other electricians simply won't work with. But Mr. Teele confidently made repairs and even called to check on us the next day to ensure all was working well.

Danielle H Plott

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Aubrey did a great job for us today. He is an asset to your company!

Jenny York Roberts

Facebook

First, they were there within the hour of calling them. Secondly, I thought I had 2 bad florescent lights, but it turned out to be tripped GFI outlets. Instead of just going ahead and replacing the lights, the electrician found the tripped outlets and let me know that was all the problem was. He showed me where they were so, if I had a problem in the future I could look there first. I appreciate his honesty. It saved me a lot of money.

Jo A.

HomeAdvisor

I called because of the great reviews, and was not disappointed. I told Aubrey what was going on and he knew right where the problem was. He communicated well when he would be here and scheduled time with the power company to shut off the main power to replace the main breaker.

I appreciated that Aubrey took the time to make sure that everything was working before he left.

Scott Klawitter

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