Has household electrical energy consumption increased or decreased ?

[Externet]

Hi.

Say in the last 20 years; from computers using 150 Watts and now barely 10;  light bulbs from 60 watts now using 9 Watts, televisions from consuming like 150 Watts and now about 12W;  refrigerators and water heaters with better insulation, heat pump technologies advancing...  Even a few solar panels implemented contribute a bit for less grid consumption.

Power plants have increased their generation or decreased ?    If increased, should be for industrial/commercial consumption, is it ?  

[Peterkin]

It shouldn't be that hard to find out.

However, while you are speculating, factor in the number of electrical and electronic devices per household, as well as their efficiency of power use. Factor in the relative size and capacity of the washing machines, refrigerators, water heaters, etc. Factor in the extra features in household appliances that require them to keep drawing on stand-by, when the owners think their microwave, television or stove is turned off. Factor in climate change: the extensive use of heating units in regions that are ill-equipped for cold weather, and air conditioners during unprecedented heat waves. 

[swansont]

Sounds like a job for…a search engine!

[studiot]

2 hours ago, Externet said:

Hi.

Say in the last 20 years; from computers using 150 Watts and now barely 10;  light bulbs from 60 watts now using 9 Watts, televisions from consuming like 150 Watts and now about 12W;  refrigerators and water heaters with better insulation, heat pump technologies advancing...  Even a few solar panels implemented contribute a bit for less grid consumption.

Power plants have increased their generation or decreased ?    If increased, should be for industrial/commercial consumption, is it ?  

From the 1990s to 2016 My annual usage was 2500 to 4000 units (kw-hrs). Heating and hot water was additional by gas.

In 2016 I installed a heat pump and did away with the gas.

Since then usage has not quite doubled, although being home more with Covid restrictions, it was higher in the last two years.

Since the national intention is to phase out gas boilers, I expect this trend to widen.

 

[Peterkin]

3 hours ago, swansont said:

Sounds like a job for…a search engine!

What - like Bing?

[swansont]

29 minutes ago, Peterkin said:

What - like Bing?

Is that like AltaVista or Ask Jeeves?

[Peterkin]

33 minutes ago, swansont said:

Is that like AltaVista or Ask Jeeves

Must be.  It's the damn intrusive thing that keeps jumping up in my face when I turn on the new computer, and wants to educate me about the screen picture du jour. 

First on this list, so maybe I'll give it a second chance. .... but we digress...

Bing gave me this, first try: https://yearbook.enerdata.net/electricity/electricity-domestic-consumption-data.html

Actually, that's not a bad site for information.

Edited October 6, 2021 by Peterkin

[Sensei]

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/energy-consumption-by-country

Click interactive map to see country details. Per-capita data. More valuable than absolute value.

In US, as some says, "sky is the limit".. Significantly higher average energy usage per-capita than elsewhere..

10 hours ago, Externet said:

Say in the last 20 years; from computers using 150 Watts and now barely 10; 

..nowadays I have 550 Watts computer power supply..

10 hours ago, Externet said:

televisions from consuming like 150 Watts and now about 12W; 

CRT's were certainly consuming a lot of energy per device but nowadays 50-60" LED consumes 80-100 Watts. Check your TV device power supply. People in Western countries have a couple devices. One for each family member. Everybody wants to watch something else.

10 hours ago, Externet said:

Even a few solar panels implemented contribute a bit for less grid consumption.

In US large chunk of energy usage is used for cooling interiors. Great usage of roof solar panels, not requiring transformation DC ->AC and storage in batteries..

[swansont]

8 hours ago, Sensei said:

CRT's were certainly consuming a lot of energy per device but nowadays 50-60" LED consumes 80-100 Watts. Check your TV device power supply. People in Western countries have a couple devices. One for each family member. Everybody wants to watch something else.

Not only that, but there was the rise of "vampire" circuits in some devices, especially TVs - some part of it was always powered, to shorten the "turn-on" time. So even if the rated power went down, it may still use more energy because it's always drawing power. 

[Sensei]

11 hours ago, swansont said:

Not only that, but there was the rise of "vampire" circuits in some devices, especially TVs - some part of it was always powered, to shorten the "turn-on" time. So even if the rated power went down, it may still use more energy because it's always drawing power. 

When I bought a new digital watt-meter *) approximately ~7 years ago, and started checking every device one by one in the apartment, I identified several such devices in my home.. e.g., the computer speakers and cable TV HDMI recorder were consuming ~90-100% of the regular power usage, when they were supposed to be turned off with the button and/or in stand-by mode..

*)

Best purchase for everybody who wants to reduce energy usage and worried about global warming.. just 10 euros, its cost paid back within a month of use after checking the all home devices..

You plug it in between device, and socket, and leave it overnight. One device, one 24h day of checking. To see energy consumption in that period. When you use device, and when you don't. Then open spreadsheet in Open Office or Excel and enter data. Extrapolate to entire year and sum the all devices together, calculate percentage of usage -> you see how much you can gain by having it unplugged/disconnected by splitter which have buttons to shut down the all sockets. I have such electric splitter which has one the main button, and buttons for each socket independently.

Search net for "Electrical sockets controlled by remote control".

https://www.google.com/search?q=Electrical+sockets+controlled+by+remote+control

Yet another "best buy" for somebody who wants to be ecological.. (but check it by watt-matter also it has to be in stand-by mode to support remote access)

 

 

Edited October 7, 2021 by Sensei

[studiot]

11 hours ago, Sensei said:

When I bought a new digital watt-meter *) approximately ~7 years ago, and started checking every device one by one in the apartment, I identified several such devices in my home.. e.g., the computer speakers and cable TV HDMI recorder were consuming ~90-100% of the regular power usage, when they were supposed to be turned off with the button and/or in stand-by mode..

+1 for putting lots of good things into this thread.

[Peterkin]

We bought one of those meters back in 2001, when we were planning the solar array for our home. First, assess your consumption. It was a very rude awakening! Power we were paying for - plus delivery, plus tax, plus debt-retirement (??), calculated per KWh - a whole lot more than we actually used.  Second, assess your needs: decide what's essential, wanted, desired and surplus to requirements. 

We had already replaced most of the light bulbs - horrible, bulky things the low energy ones were back then - then gradually replaced our appliances. (The old stand-up freezer makes a dandy container for solar batteries.) Most importantly, everything is on power-bars now, so that it's only turned on for the few minutes the toaster, coffee pot or microwave is in use. We left the tv on standby so it wouldn't forget its program guide - but since we dropped satellite subscription, we can turn it right off, too.  The only big drain this year was the AC/dehumidifier which ran in one large room for much of July.