Managing Electricity Use

[Kenwilland]

Everyone forgets to switch things off from time to time, or your kids do. I am interested in finding out what techniques people are using to remind themselves and others, what technology is appropriate and cheap, to lessen our electricity use.

Some are obvious, low energy bulbs for example others may be less obvious, but equally useful.

Please share your thoughts.

[Yanis]

This should maybe belong to another topic, but I am also curious about finding out what appliances etc use up the most electricity? I know that the fridge and boiler use a lot, but what about computers, computer screens, laptops, TV’s, etc.

And there is also the question of boiling water in a pan for a cup of tea, or using an electric kettle? With a pan I have learned almost exactly how much water to put in for a cup, and always turn it off before it starts to boil. With a kettle however, there is a minimum amount of water that has to be put in to cover the heating system, which is more than what is needed for a cup?

It would be very interesting to hear if anybody has some information on this topic, or let me know where to find more information, such as a list of how much energy household appliances use.

[Anonymous]

This is a subject that I have been researching for several Years. I started surveying “Phantom Loads” and how much energy we were wasting in 2004. To my amazement, in the early days, I reduced our electricity bill from £75 per month to only £25.

Our lounge has 4 wall lights. The annual consumption for these lights was around £74 per annum. By purchasing 4 compact fluorescent candle bulbs running at 9 watts (in place of 60) the annual consumption is now around £15 per annum. The savings are significant. Looking at Phantom Loads, if an appliance is plugged into the mains with the mains switch on, even though the appliance may be turned off, it still can be using a phantom load, a load that you will not see.

Example: Digital display washing machine. LED display uses 7 watts, turn the machine off on the button and you think that it is not using anything, WRONG, a simple energy meter plugged in will show that it will consum around 9 watts per hour (£11.82 per year, just thrown away (to the electricity supplier) this power is used to keep the capacitor charged.

Save money and unplug the appliance.

Other appliances that use phantom loads are:- any appliance that has a clock – radio alarm, cooker, microwave,

Mobile phone chargers left switched on, tv’s, sky box/digibox, videos, dvds etc,

washing machines, dehumidifiers, computers, printers, some kettles, answer phones,

the list goes on.

[Anonymous]

Countries are searching for a newer ways of generating Electricity but on the other hand some people are just consuming every more and more which is never good for world.

[Author]

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