Energy consumption and saving at home during COVID-19 period
Change of Energy Consumption at Homes and Offices and Energy Saving Tips
We have had a hard time due to the Coronavirus (COVID – 19) and we all had to work from our homes, from the buyer to the seller, general manager to the financial director. We frequently use all kinds of electronic goods at home, consume lots of electricity, our computers, washing machines, and phones, etc. Let`s investigate first Covid-19 effects on our daily lives in terms of energy consumption with some data, which comes from inavitas, the energy intelligence platform that is an energy management system, provides real-time energy data to its customers to provide energy savings, to ensure efficient systems. First, we will explain Covid-19 effects on businesses and then, we will continue to compare with energy consumption trends in our homes.
How Did Energy Consumption Change at Businesses?
This is the first graph where you can see a big energy consumption drop in March 2020 when our customer locked down his office and let his employees work from their homes, which happened to most of us. While the energy consumption is about 18k kWh in the last year, this year the energy consumption is only about 9k kWh in March. This is a massive drop of 50 % compared to the last year. When we compare February and March, it is obvious that energy consumption in February about 7k kWh is higher than it is in March. This clearly shows Corona’s effects on our businesses.
Besides, the reduction in energy cost and energy intensity has been occurred due to a reduction in electricity consumption.
If we investigate further down to loads level, where your device or appliance consumes more, we can see that the biggest drop in HVAC (Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning)consumption has happened in March about 16%. The consumption of other loads has been reduced by about 5-7%.
How Did Energy Consumption Change at Houses?
How about our energy consumption at home? As most of us locked down in our homes, juggling to balance our lives between other responsibilities and finding enough time to spend with our loved ones.
Let`s dig what is happening on your side with some data, which we got from inavitas energy management system, the brain of your energy flow.
This graph shows the energy consumption of five people lived in the house with 3 kids. They work from home since the beginning of March. Not easy times.
As you can see there is a big jump in energy consumption between February and March which is about 25%.
We picked up some loads as an example, energy consumption has been increased on cooking, washing activities as well as hot water need. Refrigerator electricity consumption is classified `as always on` so it shall not be taken into account.
In summary, we can predict that there will be an on-going increase in household energy consumption in the following days. That’s why, effective use and saving of home energy becomes more important issue during Corona days.
How Can We Manage and Save Energy at Homes?
During corona period, energy provided to homes is as important as health and food. Perhaps the most important thing we need is energy savings in homes.
Overall, we all need to consider our sky-high electricity bill, take some action for some energy saving tips.
Do you know how to save money with only minor behavioural changes in our home? As the energy intelligence platform inavitas, we prepared a list of 18 items in this sense to reduce your energy consumption
1. Use daylight whenever possible.
2. Replace your light bulbs with LED bulbs.
3. Keep in mind that refrigerators and freezers are most efficient when full, so you should keep your fridge and freezer as full as possible (using water bottles if nothing else), and you should also not overfill and reduce airflow.
4. Turn off the heated drying system in your dishwasher and leave the lid open for a while, allow air drying.
5. Turn off the lights when not in use. Note that the lighting accounts for about 12% of a typical residential electricity bill.
6. If something needs to be baked in the oven in 35 minutes, turn off the oven in 30 minutes and use the oven’s heat for the last 5 minutes.
7. Unplug any electronic items that you are not using.
8. Dry your clothes in good weather using sunlight and wind.
9. Do not operate the kitchen ventilation fans if not required.
10. Use desk light instead of general lighting while reading a book or working at the desk.
11. Make sure that your thermostat is programmable and does not use electricity to heat the water when it will not be used.
12. If possible, wash the clothes with cold water in the washing machine.
13. Avoid placing heat emitting devices, such as a lamp or TV, near the thermostat.
14. Clean or replace all the filters in your home regularly.
15. Unplug your phone and computers when they are charged. Do not leave it in the socket overnight.
16. Ensure your solar panels are clean and working as expected.
17. Consider changing your electricity tariff depends on your electricity usage times. This can create a massive change in your electricity bill.
18. Finally, check your electricity consumption instantly and make your decisions accordingly! Remember that as the energy intelligence platform inavitas, we are always ready for this task!
These hard days will finish! Even though we will not be working in our homes, we will be able to save on our electricity bills with these minor behaviour changes.
Be aware and save! ,please Contact Us
Inavitas energy intelligence team
