Being really smart
- getting the biggest savings from a home energy monitor
* Please note, the below savings were accurate at the time of writing, and are merely a guide. As energy prices regularly fluctuate, the actual savings stated may be higher or lower. Please contact NWEAC for the latest information.
Having installed a home energy monitor, now you have to use it to start making savings. Much of the 15% or so estimated savings will come from awareness about how much energy appliances etc. use, especially kettles and electric showers. Sensible savings can be made improving the way you do things, not overfilling kettles and taking shorter showers for example. Other small savings can be made by replacing traditional bulbs of all shapes with the low energy, compact fluorescent or newer LED alternative, but there are bigger savings to be made.
(The biggest saving I made was when the children moved out. I took 'measures' in the form of 'loans' towards house improvements / purchases to help reduce my energy consumption......and the children still keep coming back!)
Let me explain my experience with the energy monitor and how I reduced my consumption by 45% by making small changes. Of course I’m already careful about the way I use electricity, I have low energy bulbs everywhere, minimum water in kettle, switching things off when not needed, so it was a little surprising that so much energy could be saved.
Above you can see the sort of readings I got after leaving the monitor on for a full day (the readings update at midnight.) I left it showing power readings and energy units to help me find out what was going on. The power reading, 0.375 kW or 375 Watts, is the background energy when nothing is being used. The history shows how many units of electricity were used the previous day.
Now 375 Watts (apparently doing nothing) is roughly £375 of my annual electricity bill, which in total is around £500 per year. The 12 units of electricity used come to £1.45 (or £530 a year, roughly my bill). The 375 Watts is being used by appliances (with the exception of the fridge, freezer and central heating controls) that are not in use, but are connected to the power supply. Which means, over 70% of my electricity was a result of 'wastage' from appliances not being switched off at the wall when not being used.
Just about every appliance in the house, even when switched off, uses electricity when plugged in and the wall switch is still on. A surprising number of appliances (microwaves, washing machines, even some toasters) have a 'hidden' standby. Most other appliances have permanently connected internal power supplies. Hi-fi's and computers are particularly bad in this respect. (This is not about standby on modern TV's, as for several years now due to EU Legislation, TV's have been manufactured to go into a low energy mode when placed on standby. These advancements have resulted in it making little or no difference to leave on standby, compared to switching it off at the wall. However, if in doubt, switch it off at the wall, as the old tube type TV's use about £7 a year if they are still connected to the power source).
The next picture shows the actual readings, at about 8am. Overnight (when nothing should be left on except fridge, freezer and heating controls) about 3 units of electricity were used, all just waste. During the 24 hour period, 9 units were used, costing £1.08, or £394 a year. This was close to the figure from the background load. If you allow a couple of units of this for the fridge, freezer and heating controls, this leaves a potential saving of 7 units a day, some £307 a year.
Finding the waste
A quick check, going around every socket in the house revealed where the waste was coming from. I found many appliances plugged in and forgotten about, such as radios, hi-fi’s, computers and games etc. in the grand-children’s rooms. Some appliances couldn’t be switched off, like video recorders (as we needed the timer set for recording) and my wife’s laptop and modem (she finds it easier to start them up this way).
After switching off all these unused appliances at the wall, the background load dropped to 130 Watts, a saving of £245 a year. The overnight use had dropped by 1.7 units, equivalent to 5.1 units a day worth £0.61 or £224 a year. The overall savings were confirmed after leaving the meter to run for a further day.
Most of the remaining use can be accounted for by the fridge, freezer, heating controls, alarm clocks and the few things we needed to leave plugged in. A more thorough search will probably reveal a few more small savings, but the simple task of just switching unused appliances off at the wall has resulted in a 45% saving. Not bad eh!
There are a few other things that need to be done. As appliances are renewed the replacements should be more energy efficient (it is worth checking the energy labels before purchase though). A mixer shower, using hot water from the main central heating source, will use 60% less energy than an electric shower, and once my solar thermal panel is fitted, it will be cheaper still.
Working out the savings
1. From background load. Try to read this when there is nothing on, including lights and when fridge and freezer are not 'cooling' (when you can hear the motor running). A saving of 1Watt is roughly a £ a year so a saving of 100 Watts is equal to a saving of £100 a year.
2. From the overnight consumption. A reduction in the overnight consumption (reading taken from 12 midnight until 8am....8 hours) of 1 kWh (unit) corresponds to 3 units a day (8 hours x 3 = 24 hours), and provides a saving of £130 a year.
3. From the daily usage. Each unit saved in the daily usage (however the saving is made) will produce an annual saving of £44.
Of course, if the price of electricity increase, the savings made will be even greater.
Good luck and happy savings
Steve Woosey
Manager
North Wales Energy Advice Centre
- getting the biggest savings from a home energy monitor
* Please note, the below savings were accurate at the time of writing, and are merely a guide. As energy prices regularly fluctuate, the actual savings stated may be higher or lower. Please contact NWEAC for the latest information.
Having installed a home energy monitor, now you have to use it to start making savings. Much of the 15% or so estimated savings will come from awareness about how much energy appliances etc. use, especially kettles and electric showers. Sensible savings can be made improving the way you do things, not overfilling kettles and taking shorter showers for example. Other small savings can be made by replacing traditional bulbs of all shapes with the low energy, compact fluorescent or newer LED alternative, but there are bigger savings to be made.
(The biggest saving I made was when the children moved out. I took 'measures' in the form of 'loans' towards house improvements / purchases to help reduce my energy consumption......and the children still keep coming back!)
Let me explain my experience with the energy monitor and how I reduced my consumption by 45% by making small changes. Of course I’m already careful about the way I use electricity, I have low energy bulbs everywhere, minimum water in kettle, switching things off when not needed, so it was a little surprising that so much energy could be saved.
Above you can see the sort of readings I got after leaving the monitor on for a full day (the readings update at midnight.) I left it showing power readings and energy units to help me find out what was going on. The power reading, 0.375 kW or 375 Watts, is the background energy when nothing is being used. The history shows how many units of electricity were used the previous day.
Now 375 Watts (apparently doing nothing) is roughly £375 of my annual electricity bill, which in total is around £500 per year. The 12 units of electricity used come to £1.45 (or £530 a year, roughly my bill). The 375 Watts is being used by appliances (with the exception of the fridge, freezer and central heating controls) that are not in use, but are connected to the power supply. Which means, over 70% of my electricity was a result of 'wastage' from appliances not being switched off at the wall when not being used.
Just about every appliance in the house, even when switched off, uses electricity when plugged in and the wall switch is still on. A surprising number of appliances (microwaves, washing machines, even some toasters) have a 'hidden' standby. Most other appliances have permanently connected internal power supplies. Hi-fi's and computers are particularly bad in this respect. (This is not about standby on modern TV's, as for several years now due to EU Legislation, TV's have been manufactured to go into a low energy mode when placed on standby. These advancements have resulted in it making little or no difference to leave on standby, compared to switching it off at the wall. However, if in doubt, switch it off at the wall, as the old tube type TV's use about £7 a year if they are still connected to the power source).
The next picture shows the actual readings, at about 8am. Overnight (when nothing should be left on except fridge, freezer and heating controls) about 3 units of electricity were used, all just waste. During the 24 hour period, 9 units were used, costing £1.08, or £394 a year. This was close to the figure from the background load. If you allow a couple of units of this for the fridge, freezer and heating controls, this leaves a potential saving of 7 units a day, some £307 a year.
Finding the waste
A quick check, going around every socket in the house revealed where the waste was coming from. I found many appliances plugged in and forgotten about, such as radios, hi-fi’s, computers and games etc. in the grand-children’s rooms. Some appliances couldn’t be switched off, like video recorders (as we needed the timer set for recording) and my wife’s laptop and modem (she finds it easier to start them up this way).
After switching off all these unused appliances at the wall, the background load dropped to 130 Watts, a saving of £245 a year. The overnight use had dropped by 1.7 units, equivalent to 5.1 units a day worth £0.61 or £224 a year. The overall savings were confirmed after leaving the meter to run for a further day.
Most of the remaining use can be accounted for by the fridge, freezer, heating controls, alarm clocks and the few things we needed to leave plugged in. A more thorough search will probably reveal a few more small savings, but the simple task of just switching unused appliances off at the wall has resulted in a 45% saving. Not bad eh!
There are a few other things that need to be done. As appliances are renewed the replacements should be more energy efficient (it is worth checking the energy labels before purchase though). A mixer shower, using hot water from the main central heating source, will use 60% less energy than an electric shower, and once my solar thermal panel is fitted, it will be cheaper still.
Working out the savings
1. From background load. Try to read this when there is nothing on, including lights and when fridge and freezer are not 'cooling' (when you can hear the motor running). A saving of 1Watt is roughly a £ a year so a saving of 100 Watts is equal to a saving of £100 a year.
2. From the overnight consumption. A reduction in the overnight consumption (reading taken from 12 midnight until 8am....8 hours) of 1 kWh (unit) corresponds to 3 units a day (8 hours x 3 = 24 hours), and provides a saving of £130 a year.
3. From the daily usage. Each unit saved in the daily usage (however the saving is made) will produce an annual saving of £44.
Of course, if the price of electricity increase, the savings made will be even greater.
Good luck and happy savings
Steve Woosey
Manager
North Wales Energy Advice Centre