Standby Power & Plugin 'Smart' Meters?

[markocosic]

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...

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.

 

[viewer]

Certainly food for thought. Many thanks for taking the trouble to share your results with us.
V

 

[jpdw]

I've recently bought one of those plug-in power meters (effectively a packaged version of your hacked multimeter), for a very similar purpose - know which devices have "suprising" power requirements (either more or less than expected).

Two suprises I've had so far (only had the thing 3 days):
1) My Pinnacle Soundbrige Music takes 4W on or standby. Whilst the power usage in standby is a shame, 4W when on & playing music is MUCH less than my PC would use
2) My 'home server' PC draws 5W when OFF - so a bye-bye-standby type thing will be used here (these are usually something like <1W when off).

As I see it, with a bit of knowledge of what uses what approximate power, then I can make informed choices:
- leave device on standby - the power cost of this convenience is now known;
- always turn off not standby - because standby uses too much;
- device can be left running as it consumes peanuts (in lecky)
- replace device now! cheaper to buy new & pay lower running cost of new
- etc,..

With all the current focus on trying to outlaw incandescent light bulbs, I wish there could be more focus labelling products in catalogues and shops with power usage - I think informing the customer of the power utilisation of things that are permanently plugged in would do far more to save kWh's than switching 100W light bulbs to CFLs ( most light bulbs are not 'on' 24/7).

 

[jpdw]

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.

Obviously as energy prices go up, the breakeven point for paying for 'intelligent automation' to reduce running costs shifts towards automation.

I know in my house, just having a PIR turn the telly off when there was no-one in the room would probably save it's own cost in a year. That's before considering turning off the room lights at the same time too....

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ha ha ha ... guess what... I posted this, (turned off the light & monitor), went downstairs... wifes in the kitchen so there's no one in the living room where the TV & light is on.... Grrrr