Energy consumption in the home
- The average British household spends £62000 a year on energy, yet by taking a few simple energy efficiency measures you could reduce this by up to £2! So where does the money we spend on our fuel bills go?
Room heating £ 282 Water heating £ 96 Cooking £ 53 Lights & appliances £ 161 Fixed charges £ 28
(These figures are based on a three bedroomed semi-detached, gas-heated house.)
- An average household spends nearly £400 a year on heating rooms and water. But a lot of this money is spent unecessarily because heat escapes from your home before its warmed you up.
- An average house loses 40% of its heat through the roof and walls alone. But this is easy to rectify. Go to tips for improving insulation and you'll find out more about how to save money and keep your home warmer and more comfortable, whilst helping the environment at the same time.
www.energyefficiency.powergen.co.uk, fuel bills
- Carry out a Home Energy Check to find out how to save energy and save cash. The online questionnaire takes a couple of minutes, and you'll be sent a free evaluation of the areas of your home where cost-saving, energy efficiency measures can be made - see Energy Check
[edit] Tips for energy conservation in the home
- Start with a Home Energy Audit
- See how much carbon dioxide your household emits using carbon footprint calculators
- Save energy with the Intelliplug that automatically switches off peripheral devices, such as a printer or speaker, when the 'master' device a desktop computer or hi-fi amplifier is switched off. The SAVAplug saves energy by limiting the power drawn when the motor is running, whilst allowing full power for the motor to start and will make typical savings on the cost of running a domestic refrigeration unit of 20%.
- Get the Standby Plug, an electrical device that will automatically turn off an appliance that is in standby mode.
- Get instant feedback on your electricity use and make savings on your electricity bills with the Electrisave Meter. It's accurate enough to show when a single light bulb is turned on or off. Find out which appliances use the most energy and optimise your energy savings. The Electrisave Meter shows how much electricity is currently being used, what it's costing and how much carbon dioxide you are causing to be released into the atmosphere.
- Monitor individual appliance energy use with the Kill A Watt meter - plug it into a wall socket, then plug your appliance into the meter. It will give you readings on watts of power draw as well as kilowatt hours consumed over a period of time. You can use it to determine whether your refrigerator or freezer is ripe for replacement, or to find out, for example, how much power you could save by unplugging AC to DC converters.
Appliance – Watts Appliance – Watts Appliance – Watts
Coffee pot – 200 Garage door opener – 350 Compact Fluorescent (CF)
vs. Incandescent Wattage*
Coffee maker – 800 Ceiling fan – 10-50 Toaster – 800-1500 Table fan – 10-25 40 watt incan. – 11 watt CF Popcorn popper – 250 Electric blanket – 200 60 watt incan. – 16 watt CF Blender – 300 Blow dryer – 1000 75 watt incan. – 20 watt CF Microwave – 600-1500 Shaver – 15 100 watt incan. – 30 watt CF Waffle iron – 1200 Water Pik – 100 Hedge trimmer – 450 Hot plate – 1200 Computer… Weed eater – 500 Frying pan – 1200 laptop – 20-50 1/4" drill – 250 Dishwaher – 1200-1500 desktop – 80-150 1/2" drill – 750 Gbg. disposal – 450 printer – 100 1" drill – 1000 Washing machine… Typewriter – 80-200 9" disc sander – 1200 automatic – 500 TV (25" color) – 150 3" belt sander – 1000 manual – 300 TV (19" color) – 70 12" chain saw – 1100 Vaccuum… TV (12" B&W) – 20 14" band saw – 1100 upright – 200-700 VCR – 40 7 1/4" circ. saw – 900 handheld – 100 CD player – 35 8 1/4" circ. saw – 1400 Sewing Machine – 100 Portable stereo – 10-30 Refrig./Freezer – Conventional… Iron – 1000 Clock radio – 1 20 cubic feet – 540 Clothes dryer… Car stereo – 8 16 cubic feet – 475 electric (n/a) – 4000 Sattelite dish – 30 Sun Frost Refrig./Freezer (DC*)… gas heated – 300-400 CB radio – 5 16 cubic feet – 112 Heater (n/a)… Electric clock – 3 12 cubic feet – 70 engine block – 150-1000 Radio telephone… Vestfrost Refrig./Freezer… portable – 1500 receive – 5 10.5 cubic feet – 60 waterbed – 400 transmit – 40-150 Freezer – Conventional… stock tank – 100 Lights… 14 cubic feet FF – 440 Furnace blower – 300-1000 100w incan. – 100 14 cubic feet – 350 Air Conditioner (n/a)… 25w CF – 28 Sun Frost Freezer (DC)… room – 1000 50w DC incan. – 50 19 cubic feet – 112 central – 2000-5000 40w DC halogen – 40 Vestfrost Freezer… Electric mower (n/a)–150020w CF – 22 7.5 cubic feet – 50
[edit] Household Power Consumption
Any familiy that lives modern life need to consume electricity. Power at home is used in many ways such as home heating or cooling, lighting, water heating, any day electronics such as TV, clothes cleaning and drying, computers and so on. These are typical use of home electricity.
According to recent surveys the household power consumption is distributed between:
- Home heating – 43%
- Water heating – 21%
- Lighting – 10%
- Refrigerators and freezers – 6%
- Home cooling – 5%
- Use of kitchen cooking appliances – 5%
- Home electronics such as TV, computers etc. – 4%
- Washers and dryers – 4%
- Other – 2%
- Tips for improving insulation
- Also see our Tips in the home
