The Hindu : Kerala News : Save Electricity at Home

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 14, 2007
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Kerala

Kerala

Save Electricity at Home

The importance of electricity in present day life needs no explanation. But all are worried about the escalating electricity charges. Do you feel that your electricity bill does not commensurate with total appliance used and the level of comfort enjoyed? Is your family budget affected by the power tariff? If the answer to any of the above questions is “yes,” you urgently need “Energy Audit’”. This is a scientific method to find out and avoid waste of energy, to ensure better utilisation of available resources, there by increasing profit. Here are some useful tips that can be tested easily at home and would give amazing results. What is one “unit” of electricity? The Power consumption is measured by the unit ‘kilowatt-hour’ or simply the “unit”. It is the energy consumed by an equipment having a rating of 1000watts when used for 1 hour The commercial consumers are charged highest whereas the agricultures the least.

1. Domestic lighting : A major portion of domestic consumption of electricity goes to meet the lighting The main source of light in our home is the ordinary bulb, unfortunately happens to be the main culprit in wastage of electricity. Only 5% of the electricity used by the bulb is converted to useful light and the majority to heat. This has the least efficiency .

Fluorescent lamp is a much better source of light, which would give more than 50 times more light in comparison with an ordinary bulb of same wattage. Compact Fluorescent light, popularly known CFL would give more light with much reduced electric consumption. But this type of lamp should be avoided in study room, laboratory etc where strain on eyes is also to be considered. CFL is recommended for in kitchen where the light has to be switched on for 5-6 hrs. Here the rating of 18 watts is good. CFL is also recommended for portico, TV room, prayer room, etc. In short, a CFL would give the same light as that of an ordinary bulb with only 15% of energy consumption and recommended for lighting of long span. The life span is about 15000 hrs. Use task lighting rather than whole room lighting when a small amount of light is required .The best way to control is to turn off light when no one is in room. 10% of average home’s electricity cost can be controlled with the flip of a switch.

In many houses, there are decorating lamps, serial sets or ” zero watt” bulbs displayed on photos. These are lighted through out the day and night.

At the time of finalising the plan and sketch of a building, there should be clear idea about the lights inside. The location of window and ventilator should be such as to maximize the utilisation of natural light.

2.Fan

A ceiling fan in operation thro’out night will gobble up 22 units in a month. There is a wrong notion that fan at more speed would consume more current. Fan running at slow speed would waste energy as heat in the regulator .The ordinary regulator would take 20 watts extra at low speed. The energy loss can be compensated by using electronic regulator. Old fans when in use produce unwanted noise. This may either be due to faulty bearing or loose top, which need attention.

3. Refrigerator

Domestic fridges are the cause of waste of electricity in majority of houses. An ordinary single door 165 lts fridge would consume 30-35 units a month .10 years or older fridge would consume 1 1/2 times more energy and require immediate renovation or replacement. If the fridge is not closed properly, the temperature inside may increase and make the compressor work more. Hence open the doors only when required and keep them open as briefly as possible.

4. Electric Iron

A practice has to be cultivated in family to iron all the cloths once in week. This would save not only electricity but also time during rush periods.

5. Television &DVD

The practice of ‘viewing the TV when we like’ when changed to’ switching on the TV when we like’ would save a lot of electricity .It may be noted that a 10 hr TV viewing a day cause the current charge to increase by 30 units a month. Turn off TV and DVD at the switch itself rather than just using the remote control. Unplug the appliances that are not used. Most idle appliances like TV, CDplayers etc. continue to consume energy, though very small when switched off by remote.

6. Air conditioner

It is the size of room, number of occupants etc determine the capacity of the AC. A 1½ tonne AC unit consumes 2-2.5 unit electricity even for one hour! If the air holes are hermetically sealed off, the consumption can be considerably reduced. Higher level of insulation of rooms especially those provided below the roof, reduces the heat entering the house and makes any cooling system more effective and efficient. AC should not be allowed to perform with faulty thermostat as extra energy is required to bring down the temperature.

7. Washing machine

Loading of dirty linen to washing machine is such that it should fully utilise the capacity. Time as well as power is wasted when we wash small quantity each time. Before applying the drier, see that water is fully drained off and clothes are well spun..

8. Computer

Computer is not a current intensive unit. It is the monitor which consumes the electricity most. Music lovers listen to the CDs for hours together in multimedia computer. The monitor can very well be switched off at that time or set the computer to sleep after 10 minutes of inactivity.

Among household consumers, another significant loss is due to the leakage of electricity. Old wiring, frail and damaged insulation., leaking concrete and tiles,etc help electricity to flow to earth. Installing ELCB (earth leakage circuit breaker) will help to detect the leakage to some extend.. An electrical engineer can pin point the origin of the leak

In short, unneeded illumination, dirty lamps and shades, never-switched off lights, aged fridge, rotating fans in unoccupied rooms, television without any viewers etc are the origin of wastage of electricity. As said in the beginning Energy audit may be conducted from the family itself .The energy meter reading may be taken down every day at a particular time and observe the variation and realise where we spent more. (The author can be contacted at tamperfinder@gmail.com)

G.Sreenivasan

Public Relations Officer,

KSEB

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