Saving energy at home

Energy conservation plays a key role in preventing environmental disaster. The problem of reasonable use of energy is one of the most pressing problems of humanity. The modern economy is based on the use of energy resources, the reserves of which 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, 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 every person takes care of the use of natural resources, saves energy, water, and reduces the use of disposable packaging materials, they will thereby help prevent a worldwide environmental catastrophe.

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 resource conservation in the house, save money on paying for consumed resources, improve my life, and achieve greater comfort.

The problem of energy saving is relevant not only for my family, school, region, country, but also for the whole world. Saving energy makes it possible 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 actions, in particular, rational consumption of electricity, the use of new technologies and the use of energy-efficient household appliances and electric lamps.

Objective of the project: Learn to use electricity in everyday life with maximum benefit and minimum costs.

Project objectives:

• Talk about the use of electricity in everyday life, why you need to save it and what methods can be used to do this.
• In the research part of the project, fill out the energy passport of the apartment, measure and analyze power consumption.
• Determine 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 make its feasible contribution to energy saving, and therefore save the planet Earth.

Main part

Energy saving at home

What do we mean by energy saving? Energy saving is a set of measures to conserve and rationally use electricity and heat. Energy conservation has become one of the priority tasks of humans due to the shortage of basic energy resources, the increasing cost of their production, as well as due to global environmental problems.

Every year, the production of fuel and energy costs more and more to a person, while people are beginning to clearly realize that the senseless waste of energy and, in particular, electricity or the inept use of energy devices is not only immoral, but also hits the pocketbook, and the further, the more severely.

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

From January 1, 2011, in accordance with this law, a complete ban on the circulation of incandescent lamps with a power above 100 W was introduced. And since 2014, a complete ban on the circulation of lamps with a power above 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 savings 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 a de-energized apartment? 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 also rising for another reason - people have more and more electrical appliances in their apartments and houses. Accordingly, the load on transformer substations increases, which more often have to be repaired or more powerful ones installed. Energy saving is the cheapest and most environmentally friendly "source" of energy. This is an approach to saving energy 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 significant damage to human comfort if they learn a number of useful rules and systematically implement them. The most effective method is to replace incandescent lamps with energy-saving fluorescent or LED lamps.

Equipment that is in standby mode and not used for a long time must be turned off (computer, TV, charger, microwave oven, etc. ). It is advisable to use the washing machine at maximum load.

You need to make it a rule to turn off the lamp or chandelier when leaving the room for a long time. Boil only the required volume of water in the electric kettle and descale it regularly.

Clean the dust container of your vacuum cleaner more often. Turn on the air conditioner with the 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 energy saving rules 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 refrigerator and every switch 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. Secondly, 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 electrical energy. After analyzing all the data, I suggested that my dad replace the lamps in some rooms of our house with energy-saving ones.

Energy passport of my home

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

Table of electrical household appliances most commonly used in our home:

No.	Device name	Power consumption, W
1	Washing machine	2300
2	Vacuum cleaner	2100
3	Fridge	400
4	Microwave	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	Hairdryer	2000

Table of lighting lamps for all rooms of our house:

Type of room	Lamp type	Type of lamps	Power, W
1st floor
Living room	Ceiling	LED	9 W x 2=18 W
Kitchen	Ceiling	LED	11 W x 12=132 W
Bath	Ceiling	LED	9 W x 5=45 W
Corridor	Lamp	Energy saving	11 W x 1=11 W
Pantry	Chandelier	Energy saving	11 W x 1=11 W
2nd floor
Room 1	Chandelier	Energy saving	11 W x 3=33 W
	Desk lamp	Energy saving	11 W x 2=22 W
Room 2	Ceiling	LED	11 W x 4=44 W 9 W x 1=9 W
Room 3	Chandelier	Luminescent	36 W x 1=36 W
Room 4	Chandelier	Energy saving	11 W x 3=33 W
Corridor	Lamp	Luminescent	36 W x 1=36 W

The table shows that among household appliances, the washing machine has the highest energy consumption, followed by a vacuum cleaner and a hair dryer, although the latter is not used so often.

Power 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	Meter reading at the end of the week	Electricity consumption kW/hour	Price rub.
from 08. 10-22. 10. 2017	5117	5324	207	730. 71
from 23. 10-06. 11. 2017	5340	5501	161	568. 33

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

Thus, the table shows that in two weeks of economical electricity consumption, our family received162 rubles 38 kopecks.

I have seen in practice that electricity is wasted if appliances are plugged in but not used, or if appliances 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, with the exception of 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 energy saving rules 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 energy wasted if appliances were turned on but not in use. Knowing the power of the devices, I was able to calculate how much electricity is spent when the TVs are on (and we have three of them! ) when they are not in use. If TVs are turned on and not used for only 2 hours a day, then they consume 13. 8 kWh of energy per month. Over the course of a year, this will amount to 165. 6 kW/h, and in some cases this time interval is longer and averages 6 hours, so they consume energy up to 41. 4 kW/h, and over the course of a year – 496. 8 kW/hour. For a family budget, this ranges from 49 rubles to 146 rubles per month. Per year this will be, respectively, from 585 rubles to 1754 rubles. We decided that this is a significant saving for our large family!

And one more experiment. Measuring energy costs when equipment is in standby mode.

I unplugged the cord from the refrigerator and turned off the light. Appliances remained switched on in standby mode: TVs, washing machine, microwave oven, charger. I observed the meter readings: in 4 minutes the meter disk made one revolution. I made a calculation: 4 minutes -1 revolution, 1 hour - 15 revolutions. 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 the autumn, when the maximum energy consumption occurs due to the short daylight hours. In addition, I found out 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 family’s 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 in replacing outdated incandescent lamps with energy-saving lamps, proving their advantages. At the moment, my apartment is fully equipped with LED and energy-saving lamps.

This is the simplest thing that can be done to save energy in a single family; anyone can do it.

Now imagine that we 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 light bulbs, and do not leave appliances in standby mode, then energy costs in the family can really be reduced and the family budget can be saved.

So, by studying the question of how to save on electricity and putting into practice various methods of saving energy, we also take care of the future generations who will live on our planet.