Every appliance has a power rating in watts — how fast it uses energy while running. Multiply by how long it actually runs and you get kilowatt-hours (kWh), the unit your electricity bill is priced in. Multiply that by your rate and you have a cost. Do it for everything you own and you can see, at a glance, what's actually driving your bill — usually not what you'd guess.
A fridge drawing an average 55 W, running continuously, uses about 480 kWh a year — roughly $85 at the US average rate. A single 1,500 W space heater running 4 hours a day uses more electricity than that fridge in about six weeks.
That's the pattern worth internalising: heating, cooling and drying appliances draw ten to thirty times the power of electronics and lighting, so a little time on a heater or dryer outweighs a lot of time on a laptop or a lamp.
Typical, commonly-cited nameplate or average-running figures for each appliance type — a starting point, not a measurement of your unit. Check the rating label or a plug-in energy meter for the real number, then edit the value here.
It fits both kinds of appliance with one model: things that run continuously (a fridge — 24 hours, 7 days) and things used in short bursts (a dishwasher — 1 hour, 5 days a week). Multiply watts × hours × days ÷ 7, scaled to a year, and both work the same way.
Total kWh used × the selected country's average grid carbon intensity (kg CO₂ per kWh) — a rough figure that reflects the country's electricity mix (coal and gas grids run high, hydro and nuclear-heavy grids run low). It changes with the seasons and the seconds; treat it as an order-of-magnitude estimate.
Because the price of electricity itself varies enormously — roughly 4–5× between the cheapest and most expensive major economies, driven by energy mix, import dependence, and tax and levy policy. The "Compare countries" section shows exactly how much your specific list would cost elsewhere.