ENERGY AUDIT OF HOME

Energy Audit of Home



Energy Audit of Home

Introduction

Energy auditing is a process for accessing energy usage by individual energy consuming devices on a residential or commercial scale. After the energy audit is completed, a diagram can be created which defines the energy consumption by individual energy consuming devices, e.g. refrigerator, washer, dryer, television, heating system, hot water heater, etc. An energy savings plan follows the energy auditing process. It focuses on low hanging fruits first, e.g. installation of high efficiency light bulbs, high efficiency appliances, etc. Insulating the building and changing windows/doors is usually very costly…high hanging fruits. They are addressed as secondary measures due to a longer payback time.

Literature Review

Equipment

Power Monitor

Thermal Leak Detector

Cost of the Equipment

Power monitor = approximately $100

Thermal Leak Detector = approximately $50

Methods

Electricity (for steps 5 & 7 refer to Calculating Payback Time section)

Understand electricity bill

Review total electricity used

Review total electricity cost

Take roll of energy-consuming appliances

Include large appliances and electrical gadgets (air conditioners, computers, etc.)

Record in attached tables

Count light bulbs used in home

Determine Age of Appliances and Wattage of Light Bulbs

Use power monitor to find energy usage of in home appliances

Carefully inspect energy usage of older appliances

Find alternative wattages for light bulbs

Compare energy consumption to modern, more-efficient appliances

Energy consumption of current appliances is determined from power monitor

Energy consumption of modern appliances is found on product labels or company website

Determine excess energy wasted

Total energy used by current house appliances

Total energy used by modern efficient appliances

Determine cost of upgrading appliances

Cost of all new appliances that represent substantial energy savings

Determine time endured until money is saved

Time of usage of new appliances before savings in energy are reflected in money saved

Energy Consumption Summary of Energy Consuming Devices

Table 1. Lights information

Lights

Number of Light bulbs (unit)

20

Power consumption each bulb (Watt)

100

Usage hours per day per bulb (hr)

6

Number of days per month (day)

30

Table 2. Energy Usage of All Current in Using Electrical Appliances

(Data taken from work-sheets (Appendix A))

Device

Energy Usage/Hour (kWh)

(1)

Daily Usage Hours

(2)

Energy Consumption of Current Appliances (kWh)

(3) = (1)×(2) ×30

1

Lights

2

6.0

360

2

Washer

2.25

1.0

67.5

3

Dryer

3

1.0

90

4

Air Conditioner

1.1

8.0

264

5

Refrigerator

.17

23.9

122

6

Microwave

1

0.4

12

7

Computer

.05

12.0

18

8

Stove

2

2.0

120

9

Dishwasher

1.4

1.0

42

10

Toaster

.9

0.1

3.5

11

Electric Water Heater

5

2.7

400

12

Small Appliances

(iron, toaster oven, etc.)

.5

0.7

10

Total Energy Usage/Month (kWh)

1509

The energy usage per hour was measured by using a power monitor. The exception was lights, water heater, and electric dryer because those devices are wired directly. The hourly power consumption for those three devices was calculated based on the power capacity which is printed on the device's identification plate.

Table 3. Summary of Energy Usage and Cost

Electric Bill

 

Electricity Used

 1509 kWh

Cost ($)

 $150.90

* Note: Energy Usage/Month = Energy Usage/Hour × Hours of Usage/Month

Cost of Energy Usage/Month = Energy Usage/Month×$/kWh

Table 4. Energy Usage Consumption with Energy Efficient Appliances

Appliances

Age(or yr)

Energy Consumption of Current Appliances (kWh)

(from (3) of Table 2)

(1)

Energy Consumption of Energy Efficient Appliances (new) (kWh) (Appendix B)

(2)

Cost for Purchasing Energy Efficient ppliances ($)

(3)

Excess Energy (kWh)

(4) = (1)-(3)

1

Lights

10

360

100

50

260

2

 Washer

15

67.5

9.1

600

58.4

3

 Dryer

15

90

80

500

10

4

 Air Conditioner

10

264

74

350

190

5

 Refrigerator

20

122

42

1400

80

6

 Microwave

12

12

10

200

2

7

 Computer

1

18

18

800

0

8

 Stove

15

120

120

600

0

9

 Dishwasher

20

42

16

650

26

10

 Toaster

5

3.5

3.5

40

0

11

 Water Heater

5

400

380

350

20

12

 Small Appliances

10

10

10

200

0

 

Total

1509

862.6

646.4

Look at the column with the energy excess use and compare the use of energy by the existing appliances with the energy used by newer energy efficient appliances (where to find? See Appendix B), ...