Electricity Use Reduced By Over 60%
15.8 Tons Of CO2 Saved
Tip
Of The Day:
When you go away for more than a day switch off everything you can
We all take electricity for granted, a flick
of a switch and there it is. It seems convenient to leave things
plugged in and switched on twenty four hours a day but most
of us ignore the fact it costs money to leave things switched
on and it is getting more expensive all the time. In addition
very few people have much idea how much electricity individual
items use, manufacturers markings rarely tell the whole story. After several years of significant reductions in electricity use
we have reached the point where the scope for saving without
major investment is becoming more and more limited all the time.
Domestic annual electricity use in the UK according to the Office of National Statistics is around 115,000 Giga Watt Hours with the average household using around 4500 KW hrs a year. If each household saved around 20% of the current consumption this would save 23 Giga Watt Hours a year which is quite a few power stations that could be retired. Most of this saving could be achieved without significant expenditure on the part of households leading to big savings all round.
Did you know that consumers are around twice as likely to not understand their electricity bills as they are their phone bills with seven out of ten people having no idea how much in total they pay for their electricity. Electricity bills are not noted for their clarity which coupled with the electricity companies love of estimated meter readings can mean that if you rely on the electricity supplier it could be up to 2 years before actual meter readings align with reality. Often these estimated readings are in the suppliers favour and for this reason it is a good idea to get into the habit of phoning accurate readings through each time a bill appears, asking for a revised bill at the same time.
While following the simple tips will save money, to achieve the biggest savings
a structured approach works best. To get an idea of what can be done in each room of the house take a look at room by room for colour coded tips and advice. Big savings can be made with zero or minimal investment. One of the
biggest problems encountered even now is the lack of
information from manufacturers and shops about the standby
current consumption of appliances. It is also sometimes
difficult to compare items directly for energy efficiency
as I found out when purchasing a dishwasher and
a washing machine, this wasn't helped by the lack of knowledge
and total lack of interest of the salesman each time. The
only way I have found around this problem so far is by measurement
which is not practical for everyone. For those who are interested
you can purchase a simple power meter from Maplin for
only a few pounds.
Before embarking on expensive measures to reduce costs make sure all the simple and easy to implement changes have been done, the savings obtained may make the expensive changes uneconomic since the pay back time of big changes may be longer than the expected life of the equipment.
These pages are split into two main sections:
General Information and the process I use to identify and implement
savings including a summary of the results which are updated as information
becomes available.
To help work out the real savings or otherwise
of changes try EnCalcE
an electricity saving calculator. To find out if the savings
predicted are actually being achieved try using EnCalcEU a
calculator for checking and predicting electricity bills. Both
of these calculators are free for personal non-commercial use and have a wide range of useful features for the energy conscious..
Caution: Electricity can
be dangerous. Modifications to any electrical apparatus or wiring
should only be carried out by a competent person.
