What ideas have you had for reducing Electricity consumption

[Dibs-h]

Direct comparison:

 

[Stevekane]

They are an absolute con, It is nothing more than a wall mounted hairdryer & made from flimsy plastic. I wonder how long it will be before one burns a house down?
You would be better off with a 250 watt infra red poultry lamp. Half the running cost & warms what the light hits.

Many thanks Keith and Fitzroy, just as I thought but I suppose clever marketing at a time when were all looking to save money,,as you say it should not be allowed.
BTW I like the chicken lamp idea, the thought of her sitting under a poultry lamp like a broody hen is quite apealing!
Steve.

 

[Lefley]

put all electronics, etc that stay plugged in all day and night. on remote switches or pull plugs at night. You will Save 10%.

 

[Oldman]

I often stand waiting for my single bit of bread to toast wishing that the 2 slot toaster had a switch to turn off the unused 350-400 watts elements that are heating the air while I wait. How about a selector switch on low cost toasters to save? Every little bit helps.

 

[Lefley]

I often stand waiting for my single bit of bread to toast wishing that the 2 slot toaster had a switch to turn off the unused 350-400 watts elements that are heating the air while I wait. How about a selector switch on low cost toasters to save? Every little bit helps.

I just looked up single slice toasters. Found one at $65. When a normal two slice is $14.. I guess it's supply an$ demand. I wonder if you just disabled one side of te toaster. $14 and a set of wire cutters. Lol.

 

[Mel769]

I often stand waiting for my single bit of bread to toast wishing that the 2 slot toaster had a switch to turn off the unused 350-400 watts elements that are heating the air while I wait. How about a selector switch on low cost toasters to save? Every little bit helps.

I often stand waiting for my single bit of bread to toast wishing that the 2 slot toaster had a switch to turn off the unused 350-400 watts elements that are heating the air while I wait. How about a selector switch on low cost toasters to save? Every little bit helps.

Just incase you dont know a 400w toaster element uses 400w per hour. So if your toasting (or not toasting as the slots empty) for 5 mins, you will be wasting 33.3 watts. Average toast consumption per day for a "normal" person, I would think would be 3 single slices, per week that equates to 233.3 watts wasted, thats 12.13 Kw per year. The average cost per Kwh today is 33p. So wasted energy from toaster would cost £4.29 per year per person, using a dual toaster to cook 3 individual slices throughout the day.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

So one person in seventy making toast every day would waste £4,290,000 p.a.

 

[Oldman]

Just incase you dont know a 400w toaster element uses 400w per hour. So if your toasting (or not toasting as the slots empty) for 5 mins, you will be wasting 33.3 watts.

Putting it another way, those 33 watts wasted are the same as leaving 3 (100watt equiv) 11 watt LED lights on in empty rooms for 1 hour. I might be unusually tight but I would always turn those off

 

[clogs]

my Dualit toaster x 4 slice that can be switched from 4-2.....it's now over 20 years old and has just 1 replacement element changed.....
1 slice is not enough for me really n if it was I'd use the other slot and give the dog a treat....
or
just get a PV system and stuff em......

here we unplug all not in use chargers etc inc the TV but leave the comp on standby......
it's a real pain when our sockets dont have a switch.....
supose the shorter working life of the sockets will negate the money saved by unplugging...

I do know a guy who lives "alone"in a glorified shed, he has 2 truck batteries and a solar charger for his electric needs.....
very minimal living.....hahaha.....luckily we have a lot of sun.....

 

[Agent_zed]

Just incase you dont know a 400w toaster element uses 400w per hour. So if your toasting (or not toasting as the slots empty) for 5 mins, you will be wasting 33.3 watts. Average toast consumption per day for a "normal" person, I would think would be 3 single slices, per week that equates to 233.3 watts wasted, thats 12.13 Kw per year. The average cost per Kwh today is 33p. So wasted energy from toaster would cost £4.29 per year per person, using a dual toaster to cook 3 individual slices throughout the day.

You use the term 'wasted energy' but when you are heating your house this could be considered incorrect as all heat energy goes into the overall room heating (unless you are making toast in an unheated shed/room). I'm certainly not going to try and do the maths on the reduction in central heating that 33.3watts would equate to in cost as it would be very complicated and too many variables, but your price per person/year would be less if you deduct this.

In the summer when you don't want heat in the room then it is wasted energy. In the winter it is just additional heating, although slightly more expensive than if you were to add the same amount using gas. Same with your fridge/freezer, it costs you to run it but it is also heating your house right now so is close to 100% efficient.

 

[Sideways]

I splashed out on a Flir C5 thermal camera recently thanks to ebay. I'll sell it on in a year or two.

Nothing beats being able to see the heat and the cold for focussing attention.

This was funny - I'll bet the old Sky router (front right) "wastes" a lot more energy than the new "FritzBox" (back left).
Mind, this just confirms what we knew already since the cat always chooses to sit on the sky box, never the Fritz !

Next to measure the Watts and multiply by 24 x 365 to work out how much it costs to heat a cat.

 

[Jacob]

Just incase you dont know a 400w toaster element uses 400w per hour. So if your toasting (or not toasting as the slots empty) for 5 mins, you will be wasting 33.3 watts. Average toast consumption per day for a "normal" person, I would think would be 3 single slices, per week that equates to 233.3 watts wasted, thats 12.13 Kw per year. The average cost per Kwh today is 33p. So wasted energy from toaster would cost £4.29 per year per person, using a dual toaster to cook 3 individual slices throughout the day.

So that's the answer then - live on toast?

 

[John Brown]

Just incase you dont know a 400w toaster element uses 400w per hour. So if your toasting (or not toasting as the slots empty) for 5 mins, you will be wasting 33.3 watts. Average toast consumption per day for a "normal" person, I would think would be 3 single slices, per week that equates to 233.3 watts wasted, thats 12.13 Kw per year. The average cost per Kwh today is 33p. So wasted energy from toaster would cost £4.29 per year per person, using a dual toaster to cook 3 individual slices throughout the day.

kW and kWh are not interchangeable. A toaster can't use 400w per hour, 400w is a measurement of instantaneous power.
But then what do I know? I must eat 8 or 9 slices of toast per week.

 

[Sideways]

It is very interesting going around with an accurate current meter and looking at the idle consumption of small electronics and appliances.
We have 40 plus even counting all the lights as one.

I'll share a list when I'm done but even at 22p / kWH surprises include:

The old wall wart power supply for the kitchen radio and the microwave both take the same on idle £5.50 / year each
The paper shredder £28 / year just for being plugged in, regardless of whether the auto shred light is lit.
The electric toothbrush £7.40 a year even when the toothbrush isn't on it
My REL quake subwoofer £16 / year on idle - I don't think they even have a power switch but you stick them in a corner and forget about them

 

[Spectric]

idle consumption of small electronics and appliances

This is where you can save by having your house wired for efficiency and have multiple circuits whereby some can be on timers so switch off overnight, you could also include a power meter so you can see the loads.

 

[ian33a]

I splashed out on a Flir C5 thermal camera recently thanks to ebay. I'll sell it on in a year or two.

Nothing beats being able to see the heat and the cold for focussing attention.

This was funny - I'll bet the old Sky router (front right) "wastes" a lot more energy than the new "FritzBox" (back left).
Mind, this just confirms what we knew already since the cat always chooses to sit on the sky box, never the Fritz !

View attachment 151510

Next to measure the Watts and multiply by 24 x 365 to work out how much it costs to heat a cat.

I have the Flir C3 and my cat looks at me nervously.

Having these things give a slant to the old adage about looking at the world through rose coloured glasses, doesn't it.

It also worries people when I talk about using my camera for blue movies ( filming cold spots - for those who cannot see in infra-red).

 

[Sideways]

This is where you can save by having your house wired for efficiency and have multiple circuits whereby some can be on timers so switch off overnight, you could also include a power meter so you can see the loads.

It was interesting to observe that the two power / energy metering plugs that I bought to look at the consumption of appliances consume a few Watts themselves. More that any of our USB chargers certainly. I have unplugged those rather than leaving them in doing long term recording of power use.

Most of the lessons I'm learning here will simply teach us to switch some items off. They may get a "black spot" or something, but I will organise all the IT peripherals onto sockets that can be turned on and off together.

Interestingly, after a long wait on the international supply lines, we had our solar backup battery fitted last week. With a 9kW array and a generously sized battery, a bright winter day gives us enough power in the bank to get through two nights and a dull day in between. We're not self sufficient at this time of year but we are using 100% of what we generate ourselves.

 

[Mel769]

kW and kWh are not interchangeable. A toaster can't use 400w per hour, 400w is a measurement of instantaneous power.
But then what do I know? I must eat 8 or 9 slices of toast per week.

Not to sound pedantic but there is a direct correlation between the wattage of an item of equipment and the resulting KWh value that we are interested in. The KWh value is derived by multiplying the wattage of equipment by an hour, hence a 400w rated appliance will use in one hour: 0.4 KWh. So divide that by 60 to get KWh per minute (0.000111166889 KWh) x 5 minuites = 0.00055583444 Kwh = 6.67w

Yeah looks like my calculations were out but you get what I mean

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Yeah looks like your calculations are still out, but I get what you mean.

 

[John Brown]

Not to sound pedantic but there is a direct correlation between the wattage of an item of equipment and the resulting KWh value that we are interested in. The KWh value is derived by multiplying the wattage of equipment by an hour, hence a 400w rated appliance will use in one hour: 0.4 KWh. So divide that by 60 to get KWh per minute (0.000111166889 KWh) x 5 minuites = 0.00055583444 Kwh = 6.67w

Yeah looks like my calculations were out but you get what I mean

Preaching to the kWh, but thanks anyway.