Should I replace my old appliance?
Compare what your old appliance uses with a new, efficient one. See the yearly saving and how many years the new one takes to pay for itself.
Median for ENERGY STAR certified models of this type.
Find it on the energy label. No label? Measure a week with a plug-in energy meter and multiply by 52.
Type how much your current one uses to see the answer.
This counts electricity only. Repair costs, how long the new one lasts, and keeping a working appliance out of landfill all matter too.
Sources
New-appliance figures are medians from the ENERGY STAR data sets listed on each appliance page. Electricity prices: see how we get our numbers.
How it works
The yearly saving is the electricity your old appliance uses minus what a new one would use, multiplied by your price per kWh.
The payback time is the price of the new appliance divided by that yearly saving. If a new one wouldn't use less, there's no payback on energy alone.
For the new appliance we start with the median for ENERGY STAR certified models of the type you pick. You can type the figure from a specific model's label instead.
Example: an old fridge in the UK
| Old fridge, from its label (example) | 900 kWh a year |
|---|---|
| New bottom-freezer fridge, ENERGY STAR median | 556 kWh a year |
| Energy saved | 344 kWh a year |
| Saving at 26.32 pence per kWh | about £91 a year |
| Price of the new fridge (example) | £600 |
| Pays for itself in | about 6.6 years |
Common questions
Where do I find how much my appliance uses?
On its energy label: the yellow EnergyGuide label in the US, or the EU or UK energy label. It's often inside the door, on the back, or in the manual.
What if there's no label?
Plug the appliance into a plug-in energy meter for a week, then multiply the kWh it shows by 52.
Is replacing always the right choice?
Not always. This calculator counts electricity only. Repair costs, how long the new one will last, and keeping a working appliance out of landfill all matter too.