strugging to lower my electric usage.

matelodave

If you really want to squeeze it a little bit more, have a shufti at this - http://mr-ives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/reducing-energy-consumption-of-sky-hd.html. It gives some info on how to reduce the consumption of the telly & Sky box.

DragonQ

Further to my previous post, this is my cumulative energy usage since I moved:



It converged to ~6.7 kWh/day very quickly and I'm very energy conscious. Sometimes you hit the ceiling and there really is nothing you can do beyond that; 6.5 kWh/day is probably the best I can hope for. It'll drop over Christmas but I won't save anything since I'll be spending loads of petrol to visit family!

In your case, sniggings, it is certainly possible that your fridge-freezer is your main problem but turning it off for a day might not get you accurate readings of how much it's using because things change day to day. Obviously you can't leave it off for a week so have you tried counting the flashes on your meter? You could count them over a couple of minutes when you hear the fridge-freezer whirring away and then count them again when it's not doing anything. Depending on how many flashes you get per second you might get a statistically meaningful difference that can tell you how much effect it's having.

If it's mainly the cooker then there's not much you can do. Microwaves are more efficient than hobs, which are more efficient than ovens. So maybe switch to microwaving some things (beans, scrambled eggs) if you're not already, and maybe try frying more stuff rather than baking/roasting. Toasters are more efficient than grills for toast, and it's more efficient to boil water using a kettle first rather than just using a hob. This may involve a lifestyle change though and that probably isn't worth it for the sake of a few quid a year.

lstar337

DragonQ wrote: »

In your case, sniggings, it is certainly possible that your fridge-freezer is your main problem but turning it off for a day might not get you accurate readings of how much it's using because things change day to day. Obviously you can't leave it off for a week so have you tried counting the flashes on your meter?

Or get/borrow a plug in monitor. I used one to monitor my fridge for 7 days before I got a good average. It is just too up and down to get a reading over a day.

DragonQ wrote: »

If it's mainly the cooker then there's not much you can do. Microwaves are more efficient than hobs, which are more efficient than ovens. So maybe switch to microwaving some things (beans, scrambled eggs) if you're not already, and maybe try frying more stuff rather than baking/roasting. Toasters are more efficient than grills for toast, and it's more efficient to boil water using a kettle first rather than just using a hob. This may involve a lifestyle change though and that probably isn't worth it for the sake of a few quid a year.

We saved a lot by getting a George Foreman grill. Because it cooks close and from both sides, it cooks things very fast and at a low Wattage. Made a huge difference because our grill/oven is so terrible. Halogen ovens are also supposed to be very efficient, but I haven't had a chance to try one yet!

DragonQ

lstar337 wrote: »

Or get/borrow a plug in monitor. I used one to monitor my fridge for 7 days before I got a good average. It is just too up and down to get a reading over a day.

Do you mean one that adds up power usage over time? Obviously one that just shows instantaenous readings would be no better than looking at a single value. I wonder if mine has an energy usage option hmm...

lstar337 wrote: »

We saved a lot by getting a George Foreman grill. Because it cooks close and from both sides, it cooks things very fast and at a low Wattage. Made a huge difference because our grill/oven is so terrible. Halogen ovens are also supposed to be very efficient, but I haven't had a chance to try one yet!

Yeah, the problem is that buying new devices like this can wipe out any energy savings. Things like lightbulbs pay for themselves really quickly but I doubt ovens would!

lstar337

DragonQ wrote: »

Do you mean one that adds up power usage over time? Obviously one that just shows instantaenous readings would be no better than looking at a single value. I wonder if mine has an energy usage option hmm...!

Ours had lots of read outs, but yes, I used the accumulated reading and divided it by 7.

DragonQ wrote: »

Yeah, the problem is that buying new devices like this can wipe out any energy savings.

No doubt. Our grill only cost £30 though, so it is easily paying itself off compared to our oven where the glass regularly falls out of the door.

With Christmas coming, use the opportunity to get energy efficient gifts. We just got my parents to buy us a A+++ rated washing machine. Obviously not everybody is that lucky, but GF grills and Halogen ovens are about £30 each on Amazon, and they can and do make a difference.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=halogen+oven

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=halogen+oven#/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=gf+grill&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Agf+grill

sniggings

lstar337 wrote: »

Maybe you are. You should still see a drop even if you have a modern efficient fridge. Are you sure it didn't drop?

I'm not reading the wrong meter that was just a joke.

But even if it was using double or triple what it should, it's still going to be too low to see much of a drop, what with other stuff in use at the same time.

Maybe it did drop but I used my cooker for longer yesterday ? so I never noticed the drop? hard to say but I'm just glad it wan'ts using 6-7 units, slightly higher usage for my old fridge I can cope with, as long as it's not more than the odd 1 unit higher, which it seems it isn't.

DragonQ

lstar337 wrote: »

Ours had lots of read outs, but yes, I used the accumulated reading and divided it by 7.

Mine definitely has options but I've never used any apart from instantaneous power figures. Might be worth a try!

Yorkie1

sniggings wrote: »

yeah the fridge/freeze is the only thing I can think of to where it's going, it is very old and the seal has gone on the freezer part but they have stopped making the seals for it, it is not freezing up but there is a noticeable gap in the seal, I can't replace it yet so will have to think of something to fix it, what I'm going to do is empty it (not that there is a lot in it, a few bags of home made soup and some peas), then turn it off and see if that improves my usage, then go from there.

I believe that freezers run more efficiently if they are full. So either put bags of really cheap bread in it, or empty Tupperware boxes with their lids on.

Have you looked on freecycle for a replacement?

sniggings

Yorkie1 wrote: »

I believe that freezers run more efficiently if they are full. So either put bags of really cheap bread in it, or empty Tupperware boxes with their lids on.

Have you looked on freecycle for a replacement?

Thanks for that, no I haven't will do now though.

jives11

I think 9 units per day seems on the low side to me, mine is much higher but I'm not comparing like with like.

Things that get hot and things that pump or drive things are the main offenders. You've identified your heating Electrical use, but the washing machine also heats water from cold to the programmes designated temperature, and has a motor and a pump. washing on cooler temperatures is definitely a good idea. When I measured the power consumption of my washing machine 80% was used in the first 10 minutes of the programme to heat the water to 30 degrees. If you can wash on that temperature or even lower, there is a saving.

Other things to consider are household appliances like mowers and hoovers. There seems to have been an RPM war going on and most of these things have huge 1400 Watt motors, so you see an hours vacuuming can have an impact.

I also measured my fridges and freezers (Using a currentcost IAM device) and was surprised at how much they use and actually it appeared to have very little effect if the fridge was full or empty. I got a perfect saw tooth chart spiking every 30 minutes at 100 watts, so thats 50 watts an hour or 1.2 units per day.

I joined this forum as a blog I wrote was referred to earlier regarding tweaking down the power consumption of TV and Sky+, and I'm glad I did, some great advice here