Conduct your own energy audit.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

I've just finished up studying for the year, and the last thing I had to do was an audit of my residential electricity use. In Australia, about 30% of electricity generation is used by households, so it's important to know where it all goes.

The method is very simple -
1. read your electricity meter and record the reading in kWh and time.
2. make a record every time you turn something on or off for a week.
3. read your electricity meter again a week later and record the reading.
4. multiply the time each appliance has been on during the week (in hours) by its power usage (in W), to get the appliance's power consumption for the week (in Wh). Divide by 1000 for kWh, which is the measure on your electricity bill.

You will find that the total of your calculations is lower than the metered total - that is because many appliances (especially TVs, stereos, DVD/video players, anything with a clock) chew up roughly 10% of their switched-on power demand when on standby.

I recently conducted an audit of my own electricity consumption behaviour. I live alone, which generally consumes more energy per person than a group of people living together, so I was very interested to see how much power I consumed.

Over the week of measurement I used 50.2kWh, an average of 7.1kWh/day, whereas the Australian average is about 9kWh/day. However, it is a warm time of year and I used no heating, so my yearly average is probably close to the community average. Living alone, which means I don't get energy savings from shared activities like cooking, heating and entertainment, I was pretty happy with the result.

The reason I mention it here is that it was a very valuable exercise with some surprises! For example, 45% of my energy is used on entertainment (stereo, TV, video and DVD player, laptop), and a staggering 58% of that was my stereo! Little did I know, but it is a 250W machine - for comparison, the laptop uses 120W, the TV consumes 100W, the video 14W and the DVD player 7W. My stereo is 16 years old, so maybe it's time to invest in one that doesn't chew so much power!

Other interesting finds:
*my stereo, TV, video, DVD player, and laptop combined chew through 6.88kWh a week on standby alone - I am now turning them off at the power point when not in use.
*my modem uses 2.04kWh a week just sitting there - I am now turning it off at the power point when not in use.
*my fridge and hot water heater combined to use 43% of my electricity consumption, about as expected.

So, by switching things with a standby mode off at the powerpoint, I will save roughy 464kWh (8.92x52) of electricity a year, which is close to 20% of my consumption. By getting a more energy efficient stereo, I'll add to the savings. Oh, and that means about $200 bucks a year savings, which I can then choose to put into offsetting the extra cost of buying renewable energy (which costs me about an extra $450/yr).

Who would have thought it was so easy to make a significant difference to your energy consumption?

Who would have thought my stereo would chew through 13.68kWh in a week!? I listen to a lot of music, and run my TV sound through the stereo, but I never thought it would consume so much electricity.

This is a really valuable exercise. It forces you to examine your energy consumption patterns closely, rather than just paying a bill every three months, and then you can make better informed choices about your consumption.

I highly recommend that you give it a go yourself. In fact, it should be something every kid is doing in high school. We are far too detached from the real consequences of the decisions we make, and this is one way of bringing the consequences of our automatic behaviours to the forefront of our minds.

[Nbadan]

So, by switching things with a standby mode off at the powerpoint, I will save roughy 464kWh (8.92x52) of electricity a year, which is close to 20% of my consumption. By getting a more energy efficient stereo, I'll add to the savings. Oh, and that means about $200 bucks a year savings, which I can then choose to put into offsetting the extra cost of buying renewable energy (which costs me about an extra $450/yr).

Wow. Just think if people learned to turn off their computer monitors, TV monitors and stereos before heading to bed every night what a difference that would make to global energy consumption. Thanks Ruff.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

dan, this is where it has to start. It has to start with everyone examining their own behaviours and working out what is wasteful, and changing those behaviours. It costs us nothing to do things like turning off their standby appliances, but many of us don't do them because we a we don't even know these things. In business terms, it's called "efficiency savings". That's where we have to start. And as we improve in that department we start to ins ute other policies like switching to renewable energy, efficient "passive house" design, etc.

[ChumpDumper]

I download my illegal torrents overnight on my laptop instead of my desktop. I feel great about that.

[Extra Stout]

In the U.S., keeping one's computer running all the time to "save the hard drive" costs almost $1 a day.

[101A]

In the U.S., keeping one's computer running all the time to "save the hard drive" costs almost $1 a day.

ES, one of my favorite posters, but that makes no sense.

A couple of months ago, I added a backup server for my office to my household. Box has a 6 disk array; 3 power supplies - runs 24/7; made no recognizable difference in my utility bill, much less $30 + per month. , my hot-tub with full-time 220 to it; keeping 500 gallons (albeit covered) of water heated to 90+ OUTSIDE in Pennsylvania doesn't cost $30/month.

Just so I don't look to con uous in my consumption I DO do my dishes by hand (big-time savings there), and our familiy of 5 dries all of its clothes w/o the use of electricity (This rack holds two LARGE loads of laundry; and they dry in <24 hrs - HIGHLY recommended)- AND I have replaced every bulb in the joint with flourescents.

[jman3000]

how much electricity do koalas use?

[Fabbs]

So, by switching things with a standby mode off at the powerpoint,

If said electronical gizmo does not have standby mode switch, can one buy one to hook up at the power source?

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

Fabbs, sorry, I wasn't clear, the point is that standby mode is still consuming power. When you turn your TV off, it is still chewing through roughly 10% of the power it uses when switched on because of standby mode (basically, it's "readiness" power). Switch it off at the socket and it consumes nothing.

That's a good start 101A, so maybe you should do a full energy audit and work out where all your power actually goes. My laptop runs off 120W, I wonder what your super-array sucks down? I also wash my dishes by hand and dry by wind. In fact, drying machines are a HUGE waste of energy, and they shrink your t-shirts too!

I would like to post my report so that people could use it as a template if they want to do this themselves, but it's about 3000 words and I don't know where to put it.

[jochhejaam]

AND I have replaced every bulb in the joint with flourescents.

I've used fluorescents for about 10 years (except where there's a dimmer switch), absolutely saves on energy consumption. The cost when they first came out was prohibitive, but you can get an 8 pack at Sam's Club for about $12.

[Extra Stout]

ES, one of my favorite posters, but that makes no sense.

OK, fine, scratch out "in the U.S." and replace with "in Houston." I guess we are getting raped on cost per kWh.

[Fabbs]

Fabbs, sorry, I wasn't clear, the point is that standby mode is still consuming power. When you turn your TV off, it is still chewing through roughly 10% of the power it uses when switched on because of standby mode (basically, it's "readiness" power). Switch it off at the socket and it consumes nothing.

So unplug it. I mean for those plugs that are buried in the corner, has some company made a gizmo that allows you to cut power up higher. Some kind of switch gizmo.

[101A]

So unplug it. I mean for those plugs that are buried in the corner, has some company made a gizmo that allows you to cut power up higher. Some kind of switch gizmo.

Clap on, Clap off

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

I've used fluorescents for about 10 years (except where there's a dimmer switch), absolutely saves on energy consumption. The cost when they first came out was prohibitive, but you can get an 8 pack at Sam's Club for about $12.

Yeah, they save roughly 70% of energy consumption over comparative normal globes. Lighting consumption in my house was negligible because I basically use on two lights.My apartment isquite small.

Fabbs - sorry, no idea. No switches at the plug, huh?