How to save electricity in an apartment and a private house

The People's Encyclopedia Wikipedia reveals the term “Saving” as a prudent, careful spending of any resources.

Applying it to electricity, it should be clarified that you can reduce electricity charges:

1. restoring order when using numerous electrical appliances without the cost of material resources;

2. application of new technologies requiring initial financial investments;

3. Elementary stealing electricity.

The method of theft involved people who have lost their conscience. They have developed many deceptive technologies. But this is not our topic at all, so we will consider in more detail the first two methods.

In life, there are times when good intentions are not always justified, and the transition to energy-saving technologies is often accompanied by monetary costs.

Simple ways to save energy

Recommendations for saving electricity in everyday life are well known, but not all people see the main sources of loss.

The average data performed by the researchers showed this picture.

This is a very rough estimate, it can differ greatly from each owner, but you need to know it. Therefore, it is recommended to conduct simple measurements of electricity consumption in your home and evaluate them for a month. They will clarify the real picture.

You can do this:

1. a rough estimate of the power consumption claimed by the manufacturer;

2. measurements of consumed load currents with electrical calculations;

3. measurements by home wattmeters.

The first method does not always take into account the actual technical condition of the devices. Their insulation may be underestimated, creating additional leakage currents.

The second method is more accurate, but requires the availability of electrical meters and the skills to use them.

Home Power Meters For several years now they have been freely sold to measure the electrical power of any electrical appliance in a modern apartment. They are inserted into the gap between the plug and the outlet, and measurements are made automatically. Visual information is displayed when the device is turned on in display mode. This method is available to any adult.

Fridge-freezers

Usually they consume the most part of electricity. Therefore, their choice should be paid maximum attention when buying.

pay attention to energy efficiency label acquired model. It most fully reflects energy losses, which are minimal for class “A” and maximum for “G”.

These parameters are subjected to rigorous testing and complex calculations, but they characterize the indicators of energy saving during long-term operation, for example, for a year.

Even high-quality freezing equipment can create conditions under which it will work unnecessarily. Therefore, pay attention to a few tips:

• it is advisable to place refrigerators in cool places, which they will additionally heat, taking away heat from food. A freezer on a closed loggia will bring more benefit to the owner than in a warm kitchen, where there is enough refrigerator;

• the installation of warm pots, as well as long open doors create an additional load on cooling;

• it is better to lower the temperature of frozen meat, fish and other products from the freezer well in advance of cooking in the refrigerator compartment. This will create an additional saving effect.

Cookers

This is the second most powerful “energy eater”. If there is no way to get rid of them, then you should pay attention to their technical condition and compliance with obvious recommendations:

• the bottoms of dishes should fit snugly against the heating elements: excess gaps impede heat transfer, and energy is spent more on heating the air than on cooking;

• tight-fitting lids on pans prevent steam from escaping and removing heat: food is cooked faster and better (remember the principle of a pressure cooker);

• when working with an electric oven, use its maximum volume; bake three small pies irrationally;

• boiling the same volume of water in a separate pan at a time is more economical than in several.

There are other ways: their main recommendation is to direct the heat generated by electricity to the maximum for cooking as intended, rather than heating the surrounding area.

Lighting devices

Incandescent lamps are the cheapest light sources that have the most limited life. But it can be significantly extended. There are many such devices on sale, and a simple scheme is offered to the home master for self-production.

When turned on under voltage, the chain “C1, R1” provides a smooth supply of current to the filament, “VD1-4 and C2” maintain a stable voltage value for the lamp from a constant rather than sinusoidal current.

Energy-saving models significantly reduce power consumption for lighting. However, create conditions for them: otherwise, by reducing electricity consumption, you can increase your financial costs for acquiring burned out lamps.

Twilight switches, devices that create slow heating of the filament, dimmers for brightness control and other similar devices are not always suitable for fluorescent lamps. Energy-saving lamps need a stable voltage and long operation, and not frequent on / off and adjustment.

Inside the bulb of fluorescent lamps and energy-saving light sources there are two filaments that, no matter how you protect, but someday they will burn out.

Induction lamps devoid of this drawback. They have a completely sealed glass flask without any metal contacts, which is filled with the same medium as its predecessors. The principle of transformation of electric power from the primary winding created by the electronic device into the secondary one, which is the medium filling the flask, is laid in the scheme of their work.

These models are able to work for a very long time, so their cost, due to the complexity of the production process, is high.

LED lamps save even more energy. But on sale now there are massively “disposable” flashlights, backlights and even road lights on cars in which the current passed through the LED directly from the battery is overestimated.

When sold, this design shines very brightly: the phosphor is consumed above the norm by a fermented semiconductor junction. But very soon its resource ends, and the brightness quickly disappears ... and consumers go to the store again.

It is not difficult to include a current-limiting resistor in such a circuit, the value of which can be calculated according to the formula shown in the figure. In it, a coefficient of 0.75 is specially introduced in order to stock the LED for saving the phosphor. After all, a decrease in current slightly below the nominal characteristics recommended by the manufacturers affects the brightness very slightly, hardly visible to the human eye, but effectively prolongs the life.

When planning the lighting of rooms, you should make the most of the natural rays of the sun, create multi-stage sources of local, general and combined use.

Washing machines

The same performance indicators are introduced for them as for refrigerators. When buying a new model, pay attention to the energy efficiency label. Class “G” will “eat” electricity the most, and “A” will save.

Small-sized machines are specially designed for small families and allow washing at a reduced size at reduced cost, without creating a large supply of dirty laundry.

Ultrasonic washing in some cases can greatly facilitate the work, and such devices consume about 15 watts (to enlarge, click on the picture).

Dishwashers

The same principles of economy are used for them as for washing machines, in addition, many models have a half load mode.

Televisions, radios, multimedia devices

Modern electronic media and entertainment consume significantly less electricity than their recent predecessors. Models with cathode ray tubes already work in few places.

People are used to the fact that office equipment consumes little electricity in sleep and standby mode, often they do not turn it off. But part of the energy is still consumed by the power supply to maintain the circuit.

It is not difficult to unplug the device from the outlet: from small values, each device has large losses per year.

And if you work with a laptop that consumes no more than 80 watts, then the savings compared to a computer that requires about 400 watts are obvious: 5 times.

All modern office equipment is powered by a constant voltage of ± 12 (24) volts. To connect to a household electrical network, power supplies are used. A voltage of ≈220 is supplied to their input from sockets, and ± 12 volts is output to the internal circuit of the devices.

When using wind generators, solar panels, as alternative sources, storage batteries are used, the energy of which is converted by inverters into a household network ≈220 volts.

Using a simple adapter with a connector for your device, you can avoid double energy conversion by connecting, for example, a laptop directly to an external ± 12 volt battery.

Other household appliances

If you follow the rules set out in the technical description of each device, then not only the resource is extended, but also energy savings are created. For example, the load on the vacuum cleaner’s engine is reduced with clean filters, and the meat grinder’s knives will process the warm meat better than not completely thawed when the electricity consumption increases.

When choosing a multicooker for your home, compare its characteristics with a pressure cooker that cooks according to the same principles, but under the pressure of steam that is not released into the atmosphere. The result is reduced operating time and energy costs.

Energy saving with initial financial investments

This category includes technologies called "Smart House". The use of modern scientific developments improves the management of life support technological processes with a reduction in energy consumption.

Promising areas are:

• transition to alternative energy sources (sun, wind, water);

• geothermal energy (heat pumps).

Irradiation of the Earth by the Sun

Solar power is very attractive to homeowners. It is used by all countries of the world, and the expected effect of the introduced technology, taking into account the spent finances, sometimes brings disappointment.

To home solar station worked correctly, it is necessary to accurately determine its characteristics at the project stage. Many home-made designs do not take into account the emerging complexities of the technology, often doomed to failure.

Wind energy

Home wind turbines in many cases, they can significantly reduce energy costs. However, they, like solar stations, require accurate calculation of the project and compliance with the installation technology.

Many owners of such power plants are disappointed due to improper accounting of wind flow capacities, leading to frequent equipment downtime. Pay attention to the possibility of a fall in high-rise structures during off-design storm loads.

Energy of moving water

The creation of a home hydroelectric station is justified when a water source is located near the house that can transfer sufficient power to the water wheel. The most effective are those designs that are able to work under ice in any frost.

Geothermal Energy

The use of thermal energy from the outer core and the surface layer of the earth is increasingly being used to heat buildings. Devices that can "raise heat" of the soil are called heat pumps. Their work uses the thermodynamic principles described by the Carnot cycle.

The efficiency of using such structures is high, and energy costs are reduced to ensuring the continuous operation of the compressor motor for refrigerant circulation (click on the picture to enlarge).

However, this method requires large investments in the planning and installation of the entire structure.

For the economical consumption of electricity in the house, it is necessary at the project stage to consider the most suitable options for you, taking into account local and climatic conditions, natural lighting and heat conservation.