- Joined
- 10 Nov 2007
- Messages
- 162
- Reaction score
- 4
- Country
Whilst putting the world to rights (whinging about things being cheaper back in his day...) the old man put together a list of utility bills:
http://www.cosic.org.uk/MarkoStuff/elec/Utilities.xlsx
http://www.cosic.org.uk/MarkoStuff/elec/Utilities.xls
The plot that caught his eye:
House was rented out 2003-2007, explaining the sudden drop from occupancy 5 to occupancy 2, but where's that big climb prior to that coming from then? Bodge up a plugin meter:
And a starter list from a couple rooms
http://www.cosic.org.uk/MarkoStuff/elec/Power Consumption.xlsx
http://www.cosic.org.uk/MarkoStuff/elec/Power Consumption.xls
http://www.cosic.org.uk/MarkoStuff/elec/power1.gif
http://www.cosic.org.uk/MarkoStuff/elec/power3.gif
Bad news:
It's all standby power from these things you can't turn off because they'll lose their settings, or ridiculously inefficient "wall warts" for electronic goods that end up in places you can't get to to switch 'em off...
![Evil Twisted :evil: :evil:](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
It is a LOT more than the 7% the government white paper reckons on in our house - I'm hazarding a guess at 15-25%.
Good news:
This is a fantastic excuse to go out and buy some new toys and ebay the junk - ones that are nicer and more expensive to buy new but don't cost a fortune over their expected lives in standby power draw (10 pound FM radio isn't so cheap if it chews 100 pounds worth of electric over it's life!) - or 'home automation' type sockets that can be switched remotely
Problems:
The heath-robinson meter affair can't integrate over time (so is useless for washing machines, fridge-freezers etc); the problem children (electronic/digital/computerised things...) aren't labelled with their energy usage by retailers; I doubt Currys would be amused if you started plugging hacked multimeters into prospective purchases.
Anybody here have experience with these type of things? Crucially - are there any that are accurate enough to be worthwhile? (ie - discriminate reliably between something costing 8 pence/yr to run and 8 pounds/yr to run - the first one linked to cannot!)
http://www.pat-training.co.uk/230V_electricity_meter.htm
http://www.greenshop.co.uk/acatalog...ering_and_electricity_saving.html&CatalogBody
Assuming that a search for efficient appliances will be fruitless, or that some old stuff is kept, anybody have experience with the automation kit? Master-slave looks good for PC & peripherals; TV & peripherals?
Easily worth spending 500 GBP on a few new small electricals, a proper meter, and a few automation widgets in order to knock that off bills for the next 10 years.
![Idea :idea: :idea:](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
http://www.cosic.org.uk/MarkoStuff/elec/Utilities.xlsx
http://www.cosic.org.uk/MarkoStuff/elec/Utilities.xls
The plot that caught his eye:
![chart.gif](http://www.cosic.org.uk/MarkoStuff/elec/chart.gif)
House was rented out 2003-2007, explaining the sudden drop from occupancy 5 to occupancy 2, but where's that big climb prior to that coming from then? Bodge up a plugin meter:
And a starter list from a couple rooms
http://www.cosic.org.uk/MarkoStuff/elec/Power Consumption.xlsx
http://www.cosic.org.uk/MarkoStuff/elec/Power Consumption.xls
http://www.cosic.org.uk/MarkoStuff/elec/power1.gif
http://www.cosic.org.uk/MarkoStuff/elec/power3.gif
Bad news:
It's all standby power from these things you can't turn off because they'll lose their settings, or ridiculously inefficient "wall warts" for electronic goods that end up in places you can't get to to switch 'em off...
It is a LOT more than the 7% the government white paper reckons on in our house - I'm hazarding a guess at 15-25%.
Good news:
This is a fantastic excuse to go out and buy some new toys and ebay the junk - ones that are nicer and more expensive to buy new but don't cost a fortune over their expected lives in standby power draw (10 pound FM radio isn't so cheap if it chews 100 pounds worth of electric over it's life!) - or 'home automation' type sockets that can be switched remotely
Problems:
The heath-robinson meter affair can't integrate over time (so is useless for washing machines, fridge-freezers etc); the problem children (electronic/digital/computerised things...) aren't labelled with their energy usage by retailers; I doubt Currys would be amused if you started plugging hacked multimeters into prospective purchases.
Anybody here have experience with these type of things? Crucially - are there any that are accurate enough to be worthwhile? (ie - discriminate reliably between something costing 8 pence/yr to run and 8 pounds/yr to run - the first one linked to cannot!)
http://www.pat-training.co.uk/230V_electricity_meter.htm
http://www.greenshop.co.uk/acatalog...ering_and_electricity_saving.html&CatalogBody
Assuming that a search for efficient appliances will be fruitless, or that some old stuff is kept, anybody have experience with the automation kit? Master-slave looks good for PC & peripherals; TV & peripherals?
Easily worth spending 500 GBP on a few new small electricals, a proper meter, and a few automation widgets in order to knock that off bills for the next 10 years.