Mini Energy Audit

This mini-energy audit was conducted on residential apartments. In order to identify the cost-cutting measures that may be implemented to lower the wastage of energy and the cost, it is important to carry out an energy audit and reduce the environmental impact of energy consumption by reducing greenhouse emissions. In this case, a home energy audit or energy assessment is carried out with the aim of establishing the following (Energy Star, 2018): First, establish the amount of energy being used in the home. Second, determine the channels through which energy is lost in the home. Third, determine the problem areas that should be prioritized for fixing to improve energy use efficiency and make the house more comfortable (US Department of Energy, 2018). Conducting a mini-energy for my apartment building identifies the major consumers of energy in the house, a careful analysis of the data on the energy ratings of the appliances, and the subsequent number of hours used per day. The rationale behind using a 24-hour period as the baseline period is that the same results may be replicated for the rest of the year with heating and cooling additions during extreme weather periods in the winter and summer.

Assumptions made in the mini energy audit

• The scope of the work is limited to energy use for electricity, which is the only source of energy in the house.
• Any data obtained in the calculations for kWh ratings for the appliances consuming energy may be compared with the actual energy consumption and utilization at the electricity meter.
• The greenhouse emissions equivalent to the energy consumed in the house are beyond the scope of the audit as this falls in the external source of energy. Only an estimate can be achieved in this case using online tools that measure the amount of greenhouse emissions for the energy utilized in the house.
• Lastly, the data on the total amount of energy for a single day’s use in the house can be replicated for the entire year by assuming that the energy consumed in a given season for the seasonal appliances utilizing energy in the house is constant.

Conducting the energy audit

A walk-through of the facility was undertaken to carry out an energy utilization assessment in the house. This identified the main energy consumers as heating and lighting, with auxiliary energy use in computers, phones, televisions, and other minor electricity consumers comprising only a small percentage of the total energy use. The following data were obtained on the energy consumption in the house:

The ratings for the appliances are calculated on the basis of the following (number of hours they are operational in a day*wattage)/( 1000). This gives the daily estimate of the electricity used in the house. The electricity supply company obtains its power from mixed sources, including renewable energy sources such as hydroelectricity and solar energy. The obtained value of kWh of electricity consumed in a month is 9.896 kWh, which is lower than the actual bill for the previous month, which was 13.4kWh. Adjusting the estimated value of energy consumed to within the +/-10% of the estimated energy use in the house to cover for fluctuations in energy use, the total energy consumed should fall within a high of 10.886 kWh. The source of the discrepancy between the actual and estimated energy consumption is the margin that ought to be reduced or entirely eliminated. The following observations can allude to the behaviour of my use of energy in the house that may have resulted in this discrepancy in energy consumption.

First, there are those devices that consume energy even when they are turned off. These are called standby loads and continue to draw minimal amounts of electricity even when switched off but still plugged into the supply (Huffstetler, 2018). These items keep the clocks going when connected to the supply, and they account for up to 10% of the total electricity bills. Huffstetler (2018) puts the estimates for the standby power consumption for appliances in the household that the following power amounts

Other standby power consumers are electric cookers, microwaves, coffeemakers, and all devices with clocks, remote controls, and standby indicator lights.

The knowledge gap on these unnecessary consumers of electricity is the highest-ranked cause of excess bills paid every month (Douglas-Gabriel, 2018). By eliminating the standby power consumption, the power bill is likely to reduce significantly. This ignorance calls for the education of the consumers on ways to reduce the wastage of energy in the households as it is likely that even in other households, the same problem persists.

References

Douglas-Gabriel, D. (2018, February 2). Home energy audit: The best money I’ve ever spent. The Washington Post, pp. 1-4.

Energy Star. (2018, January 12). Home Energy audit. Retrieved from Energy Star: https://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=home_improvement.hm_improvement_audits

Huffstetler, E. (2018, July 28). Learn How Much a Phantom Load Is Costing You. The Spruce, pp. 1-3.

US Department of Energy. (2018, September 19). Heat and Cool energy saving. Retrieved from Energy saver: https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/heat-and-cool

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Mini-Energy Audit

In this assignment, I will undertake an energy audit for the residential apartment I reside in. This is a utility whose energy is metered individually as it is part of other residential building housing other tenants. The reason for choosing my own residence is to help me establish my energy consumption patterns and decipher ways in which I can reduce the cost of energy in my residence.

Mini Energy Audit

The data obtained will be carefully analyzed and compared with historical data from the previous electricity bills. The assumption made in this audit encompass an estimation that the data obtained on the amount of energy consumed in a day in a day can be replicated in the entire month to calculate the total energy consumed in a month.

The baseline for energy utilization

The total energy consumption in my apartment per day is 9.49 kWh

Assuming that the power company bills at 30 days monthly, the energy consumption in a month amounts to .

The tariff for domestic 11.42 cents per kWh.

the total cost of electricity will be $32.52