All electricity is not created equal. Well, it’s not equal by the time it reaches the meter at the service entrance to your home or business. Electricity is created in three phases: three identical sinusoidal waves displaced by 120 degrees (3 times 120 = 360, a circle). The first figure below is the exact profile of the electricity created at the power plant and delivered to your house via high-voltage power lines.
ALL electronic devices (computers, TVs, LED bulbs, WiFi routers, cable boxes, printers, scanners) add harmonics to the electrical system. The perfect sinusoidal waves in the three-phase current become terribly distorted. And the more distorted, the harder it is for electrical devices to use that electricity ~ they become less efficient, the greater the amount of distortion.
Please note: electronic devices anywhere in the house distort the power supply for ALL CIRCUITS in the main breaker panel.
Here’s a graphic of clean, idealized three-phase current. It looks nice and symmetric, perfectly geometric. If you hire an electrician to put a multimeter on the three phase-legs at your main electric panel, this is what they should see. It’s what the power company is obligated to provide you.
Let’s say you live in some third-world country with a cut-rate power grid. (Or an old, decrepit inner-city neighborhood with 1950s electrical service.) The power profile of these nice, smooth curves coming into your house might look more like this:
The more electronics, the more “harmonic distortion,” and the more distorted the three-phase current. It’s not hard to imagine that when you provide this “dirty power” to an electrical device, it won’t work as well.
There are gizmos on the internet that claim to “clean up” your distorted electrical current to “Cut your utility bills in half!!” That might work in Columbia or Kenya where the power supply is truly horrific. They might work in your situation too, but your savings won’t likely be more than 2-3% of your electric bill. Why? Because electricity is a very non-linear phenomenon. It’s not like water flowing through a hose; you saw it before: harmonics created by electrical devices on one circuit can – WILL – infect all other circuits in the house.
How do you know if you might have a problem? If your electric bills are a good bit more than your neighbors with a similar house and usage profile. If in doubt, ask an electrical contractor (actually, ask the utility company first) to get a reading on your power quality. If you do have an issue, the utility will fix it – and you might lower your utility bills by 10% or more.
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Excerpted from Going Green, available as an eBook at this list of eBook retailers online.