Question

Estimate the demand and energy used in your house and explore the possibility for energy efficiency?

Answer 1

In an average 4 bed-room house we can find the following electrical items:

2 bulbs in one room, which equals to 8 bulbs in all bedrooms
1 bulb in each bathroom, with a total of 4 bulbs
1 ceiling fan in each bed-room which equals 4 fans
1 Bulb in Kitchen
1 Fan in Kitchen
4 Bulbs in Drawing room
1 Fan in Drawing Room
1 A/C in Drawing room
1 ACs in each bed-room, equals to 4 A/Cs
1 Bulb in TV lounge
1 Fan in a TV Lounge


In Total The house has

17 Bulbs , 1 Bulb equals to 60 Watts  60x17 = 1020 W
7 Fans, 1 Fan equals to 150 Watts 7x150 = 1050 W
5 A/Cs, 1 A/C equals to 2000 Watts 5*2000 = 10,000 W
Total Estimated Requirement of a house  12,070 Watts


Now moving all fans and  bulbs on Solar Energy would require a back-up of nearly 2,500 Watts, which is doable.

The cost of Solar Panels is approx. $1 per 1 Watt so the cost of moving all bulbs and fans on Solar, including battery packs, wiring and installations will cost $2,500.

We can however reduce the costs by first installing energy saver light bulbs, which require 1/3 of energy. Hence, moving to light savers will then reduce the energy demand and while previously the bulbs used 1020 W, energy saver bulbs will require only 340 Watts, which will also mean that Solar Energy cost will now be hardly $1900

Moving all the A/Cs to solar is very difficult due to not only cost but also limited battery supply.

Answer 2

The energy consumed in the households varies but an approximate idea of the consumption of the electricity is the following: 

Air Conditioning: 18%
Heating: 10%
Kitchen Appliances: 28%
Water Heating: 11%
Lighting: 12%
Laundry: 8%
Other Equipment: 4%

Electricity consumption is the most vast area of study as our everyday lives are filled with using electricity. The use of heating and cooling is the area where there is a high demand of electricity consumption and after that there is use of lighting and appliances. 

There is a high demand of solar power these days, in order to be efficient solar products can be used in households or solar panel system can be installed in houses in order to be more efficient in saving the electricity.

Installation of window roofs can be beneficial for saving the consumption of lighting, consuming daylight can save the electricity being used indoors. 

Energy savers can be used instead of bulbs which consume more energy.

Windows at home should be checked because if there is a space between them, it can make the house cooler in winters and hotter in summers, so that should be checked. 

The appliances or gadgets which are not being used should be switched off.

More trees should be planted in order to keep the houses in shaded in order to make them stay cooler in summers.