Energy conservation plays a key role in preventing environmental disasters. The problem of rational use of energy is one of the most urgent problems of humanity. The modern economy is based on the use of energy resources whose reserves are depleted and cannot be renewed.
Every family has some impact on the environment. It is as if she is connected to a single life support system. Through the channels of this system - electrical and heating networks, water supply, gas pipelines, through trade, households, municipal services, organizations and supply enterprises, we receive everything that is necessary for the normal maintenance of a house. And my family is no exception. If every person cares about the use of natural resources, saves energy, water and reduces the use of disposable packaging materials, they will help prevent a worldwide environmental disaster.
Using my family as an example, I decided to conduct a study on saving energy consumption at home. My project helped me consciously move towards saving resources at home, save money to pay for consumed resources, improve my life and achieve greater comfort.
The problem of saving energy is important not only for my family, school, region, country, but also for the whole world. Saving energy makes it possible to reduce your 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 actions, in particular, the rational consumption of electricity, the use of new technologies and the use of energy-efficient household appliances and light bulbs.
Project objective: Learn to use electricity in everyday life with maximum benefit and minimum cost.
Project objectives:
- Talk about the use of electricity in everyday life, why you should save it and what methods can be used to do this.
- In the research part of the project, complete the energy passport of the apartment, measure and analyze energy consumption.
- Determination of measures to reduce energy costs.
- The topic of the research is saving energy in everyday life.
Research hypothesis: I can assume that my family can make its possible contribution to saving energy, and therefore save the planet Earth.
The main part
Saving energy at home
What do we mean by energy saving? Energy saving is a set of measures for the conservation and rational use of electricity and heat. Energy conservation has become one of the priority tasks of people due to the lack of basic energy sources, the increasing cost of their production, as well as due to global environmental problems.
Every year, the production of fuel and energy costs a person more and more, while people have begun to clearly understand that the senseless waste of energy and, in particular, electricity or the improper use of energy devices is not only immoral, butit also hits the pocketbook, and the further, the harder.
Therefore, the main principle of a modern house is to save energy. Unfortunately, we rarely think about how and how much energy we spend to solve specific problems. We often use a lot of energy where we can save it.
From January 1, 2011, in accordance with this law, a complete ban on the circulation of incandescent lamps with a power of more than 100 W was introduced. And since 2014, a complete ban on the circulation of lamps with a power of more than 25 W has been introduced.
Why save energy?
You need to save energy in order to reduce your harmful impact on the environment. Unfortunately, no one can achieve energy saving just by pressing a button or switch. Of course, you can completely turn off the electricity supply, 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 equipment in their apartments and houses. Therefore, the load on transformer substations increases, which more often need to be repaired or installed more powerful. Energy saving is the cheapest and most environmentally friendly "source" of energy. This is an approach to energy saving based on the use of energy saving technologies that are designed to reduce energy losses.
Ways to save energy
Every family is fully capable of reducing household electricity consumption by almost half, without harming human comfort, if they learn a number of useful rules and apply them systematically. The most effective method is to replace incandescent bulbs with energy-saving fluorescent or LED bulbs.
Devices that are in standby mode and are not used for a long time should be turned off (computer, TV, charger, microwave oven, etc. ). It is recommended to use the washing machine with maximum load.
You should make it a rule to turn off the lamp or chandelier when you leave the room for a long time. Boil only the required volume of water in the electric kettle and clean 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 a long time or are leaving, turn off all electrical appliances except the refrigerator.
Desks and computers should be positioned to make the most of natural light.
I think that if you follow the developed rules of saving energy for a certain time, then the invented ways to save will become a habit for the family. That's why there's an energy saving sticker on the fridge and every key has a warning sign 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 pressing question for us is: how to save energy in our home? And I started my experiments. 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 particularly monitor energy savings. And thirdly, I set a condition at home for two weeks: to save money and not waste electricity. After analyzing all the data, I suggested to my father to replace the light bulbs in some rooms of our house with energy-saving ones.
The energy passport of my home
I analyzed the energy consumption in the house and then compiled a table of household electrical appliances with the indicated wattage and a table of light bulbs for all the rooms of the house.
Table of the most used electrical appliances in our house:
No. |
Device name |
Power consumption, W |
1 |
Washing machine |
2300 |
2 |
Vacuum cleaner |
2100 |
3 |
freezer |
400 |
4 |
microwaves |
1500 |
5 |
Food processor |
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 lamps for all rooms of our house:
Room type
Lamp type
Type of bulbs
Power, W
1st floor
living room
ROOF
LEDs
9W x 2=18W
kitchen
ROOF
LEDs
11W x 12=132W
bath
ROOF
LEDs
9W x 5=45W
Corridor
Lamp
Energy saving
11W x 1=11W
pantry
chandelier
Energy saving
11W x 1=11W
2nd floor
Room 1
chandelier
Energy saving
11W x 3=33W
Table lamp
Energy saving
11W x 2=22W
Room 2
ROOF
LEDs
11W x 4=44W
9W x 1=9W
Room 3
chandelier
photogenic
36W x 1=36W
Room 4
chandelier
Energy saving
11W x 3=33W
Corridor
Lamp
photogenic
36W x 1=36W
From the table it can be seen that among household electrical appliances, washing machines have the highest energy consumption, followed by vacuum cleaners and hair dryers, although the latter is not used as often.
Measurement and analysis of energy consumption
The purpose of the experiment was to calculate the cost of electricity consumed. The first period is normal consumption, the second period is savings.
date |
The counter reading at the beginning of the week |
Meter reading at the end of the week |
Electricity consumption kW/hour |
PRICE delete |
from 08. 10-22. 10. 2017 |
5117 |
5324 |
207 |
730, 71 |
from 23. 10-06. 11. 2017 |
5340 |
5501 |
161 |
568, 33 |
The approved tariff is: 1 kW/h - 3 rubles, 53 kopecks.
Thus, the table shows that in two weeks economic consumption of electricity, our family has received162 rubles 38 kopecks.
I have seen in practice that electricity is wasted if devices are plugged in but not in use, or if devices are in standby mode.
During the work, my hypothesis was confirmed. We found ways to save electricity, however, it was difficult for family members to save light all the time, except for the older generation (grandparents). That is why at this stage energy saving is not a habit for our family, but for now only a condition of an experiment.
I think that if you follow the developed rules of saving energy for a certain time, then the invented ways to save will become a habit for our family.
Saving the family budget
I decided to calculate how much power was consumed if the devices were on but not in use. Knowing the power of the devices, I was able to calculate how much energy is wasted when the TVs are on (and we have three of them! ) when they are not in use. If TVs are on and not used for only 2 hours a day, then they consume 13. 8 kWh of energy per month. During a year, this will reach 165. 6 kW/h, and in some cases this time interval is longer and on average 6 hours, so they consume energy up to 41. 4 kW/h, and during a year- 496. 8 kW/hour. For a family budget, this varies from 49 rubles to 146 rubles per month. In the year this will be, respectively, from 585 rubles to 1754 rubles. We decided that this is a significant savings for our large family!
And another experiment. Measurement of energy costs when the device is in standby mode.
I disconnected the cord from the refrigerator and turned off the light. Appliances remained on in standby mode: TV, washing machine, microwave oven, charger. I watched the meter readings: in 4 minutes the meter disc made one revolution. I made a calculation: 4 minutes -1 rotation, 1 hour - 15 rotations. If the standby mode is 20 hours per day, then the energy consumption results can be up to 180 kW/hour per year.
Conclusion: the energy audit showed that the total electricity consumption in the apartment per day was slightly more than 8 kW/h, which corresponds to a monthly electricity consumption of about 240-250 kW/h. All calculations were made in autumn, when maximum energy consumption occurs due to short daylight hours. In addition, I found that electrical appliances that are turned on but not in use, or used in standby mode, consume a large amount of energy. This means that by turning them off, you can reduce energy costs and save your household budget.
CONCLUSION
In the process of preparing the project, I not only studied and analyzed the data obtained as a result of measurements and experiments, but also took the initiative to replace outdated incandescent lamps with energy-saving lamps, proving their advantages. At the moment, my apartment is fully equipped with LED bulbs and energy saving.
This is the simplest thing that can be done to save energy in a single family; anyone can do this.
Now imagine that we have managed to reduce electricity consumption by 100 W. This means that 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 lamps and do not leave appliances in standby mode, then household energy costs can be really reduced and the family budget can be saved.
So, by studying the issue of how to save electricity and putting into practice different energy saving methods, we also take care of the future generations that will live on our planet.