4 ms·

Being able to see your usage is helpful - at least, for those of us interested. For example, I was surprised to see how much our electronics (stereo, amplifier

Being able to see your usage is helpful - at least, for those of us interested. For example, I was surprised to see how much our electronics (stereo, amplifier, TV, etc.) in the living room use, even when off (some devices are older, with high standby currents). It motivated me to put everything on a timer that only turns power own in the evenings, since that's the only time they get used. It's a small thing, but small things add up.

calvinmorrison 3y ago
Not when you're on solar. Its more akin to being poor and shopping at dollar tree - cash/solar flow is more important than total cost.
gambiting 3y ago
Yeah we were away from home recently and it was interesting to see that with everything "off" we were still using a constant 200W or so, so even with no one home we used just over 4kWh each day. 120kWh each month just for "idle" usage definitely is not trivial amount of money, at current prices that's £20!
- dzhiurgis 3y ago
  Half of that is fridge which at 10 quid a month is cheap. Then another 20w for wifi router which again, looking at what you pay to your ISP is nothing. So you got 8 pounds to account for which at UKs minimum wage is about 1 hours worth of work?
  - gambiting 3y ago
    That's a weird point to make - I'm just saying 120kWh a month for a house with no one in it and just some basic appliances and network equipment is a LOT - in developing countries 120kWh would be the average energy consumption of the entire house with people living in it, and we just "waste" that because I couldn't be bothered to switch off some devices in my house. It's not about whether I can afford it or not.
    - robinsonb5 3y ago
      For comparison, I live alone in a mid-terraced 2-bedroom house in the UK, heated with gas - and I'm currently there most of the time. My monthly electricity usage is about 180kWh a month. I'm guessing a big chunk of the 60kWh I'm using over your baseline is the kettle! :D
      - gambiting 3y ago
        Uhm. We have a 3 bed semi detached house, my consumption for November was 1267kWh of electricity. In October it was 1148kWh. And I also heat with gas(well we have a minisplit upstairs that we sometimes use for heat, but it uses like 5kWh/day max) No idea how you use so little lol.
        dzhiurgis 3y ago
        We vs I makes all the difference. We (2 adults, 2 seniors, 2 small kids) blow thru 350-400 kWh on hot water alone. Another 500-600 kwh on car. Remaining 300-400kwh is cooking, lighting, tech, etc. Same average 1200kwh per month. Take the car away and it's same 175kwh per month per person (summer here so no heating needed).
        robinsonb5 3y ago
        It does indeed. Also I use gas for both hot water and cooking - and keep the ambient temperature relatively low, so the fridge and freezer aren't fighting the heating.
        Symbiote 3y ago
        That's very high. Has a neighbour plugged their car into your outside socket? Underfloor electric heating in the bathroom? Someone using that minisplit more than you think? Average monthly use a house like that in Britain is 225kWh. https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/average-gas-and-electricity-use-explained https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice...
wolpoli 3y ago
> It motivated me to put everything on a timer that only turns power own in the evenings, since that's the only time they get used. I was surprised to learn that a timer itself also uses power. I borrowed a Kill-a-watt from the library and found that an 2 decades old timer uses 2.3W while a newer one uses 0.6W. That tells me that I should just keep the old timer for the rare occasions.
- BizarroLand 3y ago
  I suppose you should consider the cost of the new timer vs the cost of the electricity at that point. If a new timer is $20, and you're paying the US National Average for electricity of $0.165 / kwh. The new one is 0.6 and the old one is 2.3, for a 1.7 watt difference. Doing the math, $20/$0.165=121.212kwh, or 121212 watt hours / 1.7 watts per hour = 71301.2 hours / 8760 hours in a year (not counting leap hours) = ~8.1 years for the device to pay for itself in savings. If you're worried about the environment, then it's wasteful to take a moderately efficient system and upgrade it. If you're worried about cost, then you're not saving that much money. If you're worried about overall value for your effort, there are better things to focus on. Even if it were perfectly efficient (0 watt standby) then it would still take 6 years to pay for itself if it were $20.

calvinmorrison 3y ago

Not when you're on solar. Its more akin to being poor and shopping at dollar tree - cash/solar flow is more important than total cost.

gambiting 3y ago

Yeah we were away from home recently and it was interesting to see that with everything "off" we were still using a constant 200W or so, so even with no one home we used just over 4kWh each day. 120kWh each month just for "idle" usage definitely is not trivial amount of money, at current prices that's £20!

dzhiurgis 3y ago
Half of that is fridge which at 10 quid a month is cheap. Then another 20w for wifi router which again, looking at what you pay to your ISP is nothing. So you got 8 pounds to account for which at UKs minimum wage is about 1 hours worth of work?
- gambiting 3y ago
  That's a weird point to make - I'm just saying 120kWh a month for a house with no one in it and just some basic appliances and network equipment is a LOT - in developing countries 120kWh would be the average energy consumption of the entire house with people living in it, and we just "waste" that because I couldn't be bothered to switch off some devices in my house. It's not about whether I can afford it or not.
  - robinsonb5 3y ago
    For comparison, I live alone in a mid-terraced 2-bedroom house in the UK, heated with gas - and I'm currently there most of the time. My monthly electricity usage is about 180kWh a month. I'm guessing a big chunk of the 60kWh I'm using over your baseline is the kettle! :D
    - gambiting 3y ago
      Uhm. We have a 3 bed semi detached house, my consumption for November was 1267kWh of electricity. In October it was 1148kWh. And I also heat with gas(well we have a minisplit upstairs that we sometimes use for heat, but it uses like 5kWh/day max) No idea how you use so little lol.
      - dzhiurgis 3y ago
        We vs I makes all the difference. We (2 adults, 2 seniors, 2 small kids) blow thru 350-400 kWh on hot water alone. Another 500-600 kwh on car. Remaining 300-400kwh is cooking, lighting, tech, etc. Same average 1200kwh per month. Take the car away and it's same 175kwh per month per person (summer here so no heating needed).
        robinsonb5 3y ago
        It does indeed. Also I use gas for both hot water and cooking - and keep the ambient temperature relatively low, so the fridge and freezer aren't fighting the heating.
      - Symbiote 3y ago
        That's very high. Has a neighbour plugged their car into your outside socket? Underfloor electric heating in the bathroom? Someone using that minisplit more than you think? Average monthly use a house like that in Britain is 225kWh. https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/average-gas-and-electricity-use-explained https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice...

wolpoli 3y ago

> It motivated me to put everything on a timer that only turns power own in the evenings, since that's the only time they get used. I was surprised to learn that a timer itself also uses power. I borrowed a Kill-a-watt from the library and found that an 2 decades old timer uses 2.3W while a newer one uses 0.6W. That tells me that I should just keep the old timer for the rare occasions.

BizarroLand 3y ago
I suppose you should consider the cost of the new timer vs the cost of the electricity at that point. If a new timer is $20, and you're paying the US National Average for electricity of $0.165 / kwh. The new one is 0.6 and the old one is 2.3, for a 1.7 watt difference. Doing the math, $20/$0.165=121.212kwh, or 121212 watt hours / 1.7 watts per hour = 71301.2 hours / 8760 hours in a year (not counting leap hours) = ~8.1 years for the device to pay for itself in savings. If you're worried about the environment, then it's wasteful to take a moderately efficient system and upgrade it. If you're worried about cost, then you're not saving that much money. If you're worried about overall value for your effort, there are better things to focus on. Even if it were perfectly efficient (0 watt standby) then it would still take 6 years to pay for itself if it were $20.