So, I thought, what new devices powered by electricity would I find in my bathroom a decade from now? Here’s what I came up with. There will probably something to do with hair rejuvenation, skin treatment, maybe something treating muscle issues, a device treating body fat, certainly more health information devices providing vital sign data and maybe specific medical treatment equipment, and certainly a full body scanner to send detail measurements to your doctor or tailor. 

I am certain that there will be new devices in the bathroom and other rooms of the house. What they will do is up to the inventors and entrepreneurs among us today. 

What will be the power requirements of these new devices? Depends. If they are electronic, not much power draw. If they involve heat and a motor, then possibly quite high requirement.  In developing areas such as rural India the power requirements of many labor savings devices (laundry, clothes dryer, sewing machines, rice cookers etc,) is frequently beyond the capacity of the local solar panels and has led to disappointment over solar installations. The fault there was with the government for not explaining in advance the power limitations, not with the solar panels themselves. 

Here is a list of common household devices using electricity and their power requirements just in case you have not thought about it for a while.  The measure for power is in terms of watts (kW=1,000 watts), while energy consumed (power over time) is expressed in watt-hours. 

The Honorable Branko Terzic is a former Commissioner on the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and State of Wisconsin Public Service Commission, in addition to energy industry experience was a US Army Reserve Foreign Area Officer ( FAO) for Eastern Europe (1979-1990). He hold a BS Engineering and honorary Doctor of Sciences in Engineering (h.c.) both from the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee.