Does using a crockpot vs. stove or oven save or use more energy?

My understanding is that the crackpot saves energy. The energy/electricity is used more efficiently as it heats up the pot only, rather than a heating ring that loses heat to the environment as well as heating up a pot.

A crockpot is better than an oven or stove. Compared to a stove, the crockpot maintains more heat and requires less energy per minute, it does take a lot longer to cook something in the crockpot though, so the savings aren't as great. Try putting your hand a few inches from a crockpot and then a stove with a pot on it. The surrounding air on the stove is much hotter, and all that ambient heat is wasted energy. Compared to a stove, a crockpot is also better. Just look at the size difference, a stove has to heat a much larger area and usually food doesn't even fill a quarter of the space, while a crockpot is usually about 75%+ filled with food. One other benefit with a crockpot is during warm months, the heat given off by stoves and ovens can dramatically increase the air temperature in the kitchen and surrounding rooms, requiring more A/C use.

There are few, if any, shortcuts to energy.

Electricity is produced, bought, and sold in units called kilowatt hours (kWhr). 1 kilowatt of usage used for 1 hour is 1 kWhr. (1000 watts = 1 kW)

My crockpot uses 250 watts. If I leave that on for 4 hours, I use 1 kWhr (4 hours x .25 kW = 1kWhr)

My stove burner is 1000 watts or 1 kW. If I use that for 1 hour, I use 1 kWhr, the same as the crockpot for 4 hours.

When I use my crockpot, it's usually an all day deal: 6-8 hours. If you work the equation, you see it's not that efficient. If I cook the same meal on the burner for 1 hour (typical), I potentially use 50% of the power used in the crockpot.

yes,very much so