Saving energy at home

Saving energy plays a key role in preventing environmental disasters. The problem of the rational 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 exhausted and cannot be renewed.

Every family has an impact on the environment. It's like she's connected to a single life support system. Through the channels of this system - electrical and heating networks, water supply, gas pipelines, through commercial, domestic, communal, supply organizations and enterprises, we receive everything that is necessary for the normal maintenance of the home. And my family is no exception. If each person takes care of the use of natural resources, conserves energy, water and reduces the use of single-use packaging materials, he will help prevent a global 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 switch to conservation of resources in the house, save money to pay for spent 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 allows you to reduce your own costs and have less 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, use of new technologies and use of energy-efficient household appliances and electric lamps.

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

project goals:

• Talk about the use of electricity in everyday life, why you should save it and what methods can be used for this.
• In the research part of the project, fill out the apartment's energy passport, measure and analyze energy consumption.
• Identify measures to reduce energy costs.
• The object of the study is energy saving in everyday life.

Research Hypothesis: I can assume that my family can make their possible contribution to save energy 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 for saving and rational use of electricity and heat. Energy conservation has become one of the priority tasks of humanity 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 per person, while people are beginning to clearly realize that the senseless waste of energy and especially electricity or the improper use of energy devices is not only immoral, but also hits the pocket and as muchfurther, the heavier.

That is why the main principle of the modern home is energy saving. Unfortunately, we rarely think about how and how much energy we spend on solving specific problems. We often use too much energy where we could save it.

From January 1, 2011, in accordance with this law, a total ban on the circulation of incandescent lamps with a power of more than 100 W was introduced. And from 2014, a total ban was introduced on the circulation of lamps with a power of more than 25 W.

Why save energy

You need to conserve energy to reduce your harmful impact on the environment. Unfortunately, no one can achieve energy savings just by pushing a button or switch. Of course, you can completely turn off the power supply, but how long can a person live in an apartment without electricity? This is unlikely to suit anyone. That is why the question of how to save energy at home excites everyone, including me. But energy costs are rising for another reason - people have more and more electrical appliances in their apartments and houses. Accordingly, the load on the transformer substations increases, which more often need to be repaired or more powerful installed. Energy conservation is the cheapest and most environmentally friendly "source" of energy. It is an approach to energy conservation based on the use of energy-saving technologies designed to reduce energy losses.

Ways to save energy

Every family is quite capable of reducing household electricity consumption by almost half without significant harm to people's comfort if they learn a number of useful rules and apply them systematically. 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 should be turned off (computer, TV, charger, microwave oven, etc. ). It is recommended to use the washing machine at maximum load.

You should make it a rule to turn off the lamp or chandelier when you leave the room for a long time. Boil only the required amount of water in the kettle and clean 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 rules for saving energy for a certain time, then invented ways to save will become a habit for the family. That's why there's an energy saving sticker on the fridge and every key has a warning sign that my sister and I painted 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 began my experiments. The first thing I did was create an energy passport for my home. Second, I looked at how much electricity we use when we live an ordinary life and don't particularly monitor energy savings. And thirdly, I set a condition at home for two weeks: to save money and not waste electricity. After analyzing all the data, I suggested to my father to replace the lamps in some rooms of our house with energy-saving ones.

Energy passport of my home

I analyzed the energy 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 appliances that are most often used in our home:

No.	Device name	Power consumption, W
1	Washing machine	2300
2	Vacuum cleaner	2100
3	Refrigerator	400
4	Microwave	1500
5	Kitchen robot	1200
6	Grill oven	1300
7	Blender	750
8	television 1	67
9	television 2	80
10	television 3	80
eleven	Hair dryer	2000

Table of lighting lamps for all rooms of our house:

Room type	Lamp type	Type of lamps	Power, W
1st floor
Hall	Ceiling	LEDs	9W x 2=18W
Kitchen	Ceiling	LEDs	11W x 12=132W
Bathroom	Ceiling	LEDs	9W x 5=45W
Corridor	Lamp	Energy saving	11W x 1=11W
Keller	A chandelier	Energy saving	11W x 1=11W
2nd floor
Room 1	A chandelier	Energy saving	11W x 3=33W
	Desk lamp	Energy saving	11W x 2=22W
Room 2	Ceiling	LEDs	11W x 4=44W 9W x 1=9W
Room 3	A chandelier	Luminescent	36W x 1=36W
Room 4	A chandelier	Energy saving	11W x 3=33W
Corridor	Lamp	Luminescent	36W x 1=36W

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

Measurement and analysis of energy consumption

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

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

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

I have seen in practice that electricity is wasted if the appliances are turned on but not in use, or if the appliances are on standby.

During the work, my hypothesis was confirmed. We found ways to save electricity, but it was difficult for family members to save light all the time, except for 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 for an experiment.

I think that if you follow the developed rules for saving energy for a certain time, then invented ways to save will become a habit for our family.

Saving the family budget

I decided to calculate how much energy is wasted if the appliances are on but not in use. Knowing the wattage of the appliances, I was able to calculate how much current is consumed when the TVs are on (and we have three! ) when they are not in use. If TVs are switched on and not used for only 2 hours a day, then they consume 13. 8 kWh of energy per month. In one year this will amount to 165. 6 kW/h, and in some cases this time interval is longer and is an average of 6 hours, so they consume energy up to 41. 4 kW/h, and in one year – 496, 8 kW/hour. For a family budget, this varies from 49 rubles to 146 rubles per month. Per year, it will be from 585 rubles to 1754 rubles, respectively. We figured this was a significant savings for our large family!

And one more experiment. Measurement of energy costs when the equipment is in standby mode.

I unplugged the fridge and turned off the light. Appliances remained switched on in standby mode: TVs, washing machine, microwave oven, charger. I watched the readings of the meter: in 4 minutes the disk of the meter 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 reach up to 180 kW/hour per year.

Conclusion: the energy audit showed that the total electricity consumption in the apartment per day is just over 8 kW/h, which corresponds to a monthly electricity consumption of about 240-250 kW/h. All calculations were made in autumn, when there is maximum energy consumption due to short daylight hours. I also realized that electrical appliances that are turned on but not in use or 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 to replace the outdated incandescent lamps with energy-saving lamps, proving their advantages. Currently, 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 family; anyone can do it.

Now imagine that we have 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 the 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 electricity and putting into practice different methods of saving energy, we also take care of the future generations who will live on our planet.