Energy saving at home

how to save energy

Energy conservation plays a key role in preventing environmental disasters. The problem of rational energy use is one of humanity's most pressing problems. The modern economy is based on the use of energy resources, the reserves of which are exhausted and cannot be renewed.

Every family has some effect on the environment. It's like being connected to a single life support system. Through the channels of this system - electrical and heating networks, water supply, gas pipelines, commercial, household, utility, supply organizations and enterprises, we receive everything that is necessary for the normal maintenance of a home. And my family is no exception. If everyone takes care of the use of natural resources, saves energy, water and reduces the use of disposable packaging materials, it helps to prevent a global environmental disaster.

Using my family as an example, I decided to do a study on saving energy at home. My project helped me to consciously move towards conserving resources in the house, save money to pay for consumed resources, improve my life and achieve greater comfort.

The problem of energy saving is relevant not only for my family, school, region, and country, but also for the whole world. Energy saving allows you to reduce your own costs and have a smaller impact on the environment. It helps to create a culture of energy saving - this is, first of all, training in practical activities, in particular, the rational consumption of electricity, the use of new technologies, and the use of energy-efficient household appliances and electric lamps.

The purpose of the project: Learn to use electricity in everyday life with maximum benefit and minimum cost.

Project objectives:

  • Talk about the everyday use of electricity, why you need to save and what methods you can use to do it.
  • In the research part of the project, fill out the energy passport of the apartment, measure and analyze the electricity consumption.
  • Identify measures to reduce energy costs.
  • The subject of the research is energy saving in everyday life.

Research hypothesis: I can assume that my family can contribute to saving energy and thereby save the Earth.

Main part

Energy saving at home

What do we mean by energy saving? Energy saving is a set of measures aimed at saving and rational use of electricity and heat. Energy conservation has become one of man's priority tasks due to the lack of basic energy sources, the increase in the cost of their production, and global environmental problems.

Every year it costs more and more to produce fuel and energy, while people are beginning to clearly realize that the senseless waste of energy and especially electricity or the inappropriate use of energy devices is not only immoral, but also hurts the pocketbook, and the longer it goes on, the more severely.

Therefore, the main principle of the modern home is energy saving. Unfortunately, we rarely think about how and how much energy we spend on solving specific problems. We often use too much energy where we could save it.

As of January 1, 2011, pursuant to this law, a complete ban was introduced on the marketing of light bulbs with a power greater than 100 W. Since 2014, a complete ban has been introduced on the marketing of lamps with a power of more than 25 W.

Why save energy

In order to reduce the harmful effects on the environment, energy must be saved. Unfortunately, no one can achieve energy savings by simply pressing a button or switch. Of course, the power supply can be turned off completely, but how long can a person live in an apartment without electricity? This is unlikely to suit anyone. Therefore, the question of how to save energy at home is of great concern to everyone, including me. But energy costs are rising for another reason - people have more and more electrical appliances in their apartments and houses. Accordingly, the load on the transformer substations increases, which must be repaired more often or more powerful ones installed. Energy conservation is the cheapest and most environmentally friendly source of energy. This energy saving approach is based on the use of energy saving technologies that aim to reduce energy loss.

Ways to save energy

Every family is fully capable of reducing household electricity consumption by almost half without significant damage to human comfort if they learn a number of useful rules and apply them systematically. The most effective method is to replace incandescent lamps with energy-saving fluorescent lamps or LED lamps.

Equipment in standby mode that has not been used for a long time (computer, TV, charger, microwave oven, etc. ) must be switched off. It is recommended to use the washing machine with a maximum load.

You should make it a rule to turn off the lamp or chandelier when you leave the room for an extended period of time. Only boil the necessary amount of water in the electric kettle and descale it regularly.

Clean the dust container of the vacuum cleaner more often. Turn on the air conditioner with windows and doors tightly closed.

If you are away for an extended period of time or traveling, turn off all electrical appliances except the refrigerator.

Desks and computers should be positioned to maximize natural light.

I think that if you follow the elaborate energy saving rules for a certain period of time, the invented ways of saving will become a family habit. That's why there's an energy-saving sticker on the fridge, and there's a warning sign on every switch that my sister and I drew for our house.

Research part

The number of electrical appliances in our home is constantly increasing, and so are our electricity bills. And this is not surprising, because 6 other people live in the house with me. A very urgent question for us: how can we save energy in our home? And I started experimenting. The first thing I did was create an energy passport for my home. Second, I looked at how much electricity we spend when we live an ordinary life and do not pay much attention to saving energy. And thirdly, for two weeks at home, I set a condition: to save and not waste electrical energy. After analyzing all the data, I suggested to my father to replace the lights in some rooms of our house with energy-saving ones.

The energy passport of my home

I analyzed the electricity consumption of the house, then compiled a table of the electrical household appliances with the indicated power and a table of the lighting lamps for all the rooms of the house.

Table of the most frequently used electrical household appliances in our home:

No.

Device name

Current consumption, W

1

Washing machine

2300

2

Vacuum cleaner

2100

3

Refrigerator

400

4

Microwave

1500

5

Kitchen robot

1200

6

Grill oven

1300

7

Blender

750

8

TV 1

67

9

TV 2

80

10

TV 3

80

eleven

Hair dryer

2000

Table of lighting lamps for every room in our house:

Room type

Lamp type

The type of lamps

Power, W

First floor

Living room

Ceiling

HE WAS DRIVING

9W x 2=18W

Kitchen

Ceiling

HE WAS DRIVING

11W x 12 = 132W

Bathtub

Ceiling

HE WAS DRIVING

9W x 5=45W

Corridor

Lamp

Power saving

11W x 1=11W

Pantry

Chandelier

Power saving

11W x 1=11W

2nd Floor

Room 1

Chandelier

Power saving

11W x 3=33W

Table lamp

Power saving

11W x 2=22W

Room 2

Ceiling

HE WAS DRIVING

11W x 4 = 44W

9W x 1=9W

3 rooms

Chandelier

Phosphorescent

36W x 1=36W

Room 4

Chandelier

Power saving

11W x 3=33W

Corridor

Lamp

Phosphorescent

36W x 1=36W

The table shows that among the household appliances, the washing machine consumes the most, followed by the vacuum cleaner and the hair dryer, although the latter is not used as often.

Energy consumption measurement and analysis

The purpose of the experiment was to calculate the cost of consumed electrical energy. The first period is normal consumption, the second period is saving.

date

Counter reading at the beginning of the week

Checkout at the end of the week

Electricity consumption

kW/hour

Price

rubbing.

08-22 October 2017

5117

5324

207

730, 71

23. 10. 2017-06. until 11

5340

5501

161

568, 33

The accepted tariff: 1 kW/h - 3 rubles 53 kopecks.

Thus, the table shows that our family received economical electricity consumption for two weeks162 rubles 38 kopecks.

In practice, I have found that power is wasted when devices are plugged in but not in use, or when devices are in standby mode.

During the work, my hypothesis was confirmed. We found a way to save electricity, but it was always difficult for family members - with the exception of the older generation (grandparents) - to save on electricity. That is why, at this stage, energy saving is not a habit in our family, but for now it is only a condition of an experiment.

I think that if you follow the elaborate energy saving rules for a certain period of time, then the invented ways of saving will become a habit in our family.

Saving the family budget

I decided to calculate how much energy is wasted when the devices are on but not in use. Knowing the performance of the devices, I was able to calculate how much electricity they use when the TVs are on (and we have three! ) when they are not in use. If TVs are switched on and not used for 2 hours a day, they consume 13. 8 kWh of energy per month. Over the course of a year, this amounts to 165. 6 kW/h, and in some cases this time interval is longer, on average 6 hours, so up to 41. 4 kW/h, and up to 496. 8 over a year. kW/hour. For a family budget, it ranges from 49 rubles to 146 rubles per month. It will go from 585 rubles to 1754 rubles per year. We decided this would be a significant savings for our large family!

And one more experiment. Measurement of energy costs when the equipment is in standby mode.

I unplugged the cable from the refrigerator and turned off the light. In standby mode, the devices remained switched on: TV, washing machine, microwave oven, charger. I observed the meter readings: the meter dial made one revolution in 4 minutes. I calculated: 4 minutes - 1 revolution, 1 hour - 15 revolutions. If the standby mode is 20 hours a day, the result of energy consumption can be up to 180 kW/hour per year.

Conclusion: the energy audit showed that the total daily electricity consumption of the apartment is slightly more than 8 kW/h, which is approx. It corresponds to a monthly electricity consumption of 240-250 kW/h. All calculations were made in autumn, when the maximum energy consumption occurs due to the short daylight hours. In addition, I realized that electrical devices that are turned on but not in use or in standby mode consume a large amount of energy. This means that by turning it off, you can reduce energy costs and save your family's budget.

Conclusion

During the preparation of the project, I not only studied and analyzed the data obtained as a result of measurements and experiments, but also initiated the replacement of outdated incandescent lamps with energy-saving lamps, proving their advantages. Currently, my apartment is fully equipped with LED and energy-saving lights.

This is the easiest thing to save in a single family, anyone can do it.

Now imagine that we managed to reduce power consumption by 100 W. This means we have saved:

  • coal - 48 kilograms
  • oil - 33 liters
  • gas - 35 cubic meters.

The study showed that if you use household appliances correctly, use energy-saving light bulbs and do not leave appliances in standby mode, you can actually reduce the family's energy costs and save the family budget.

So, by studying the issue of electricity saving and putting various methods of energy saving into practice, we also take care of the future generations living on our planet.