Energy Audit and Investigation
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Introduction
Today energy conservation is a very important topic and most people are not even aware that they could improve the energy efficiency and consumption in their homes by undertaking a comprehensive energy audit. Schueman (26) argues that in most cases, defects arising from construction or design flaws often lead to people spending extra money in an effort to have a comfortable home, but it ends up consuming a lot of energy. As such, this energy audit and investigation report aims to analyze energy usage of a one bedroom flat on the ground floor with a two bedrooms on level 1. The pricing of the gas and electricity energy consumed in the house is based on the current pricing tariff for Octopus Energy, a leading electricity and gas suppliers within the UK. By conducting this home energy audit and investigation, we will be able to have an educated guess or estimation on the areas to prioritize improvements to achieve efficient energy consumption rates.
Part A
In this energy audit and costing investigation, the objective is to understand the energy consumption and overall costing of a one bedroom flat and a one two bedrooms flat in levels 1-3 and ground floor. As displayed in the floor plan and design of the house, every flat has one living room, a hall, one kitchen, one bathroom and specified bedrooms. Moreover, other than electricity usage in this home, the heating system uses gases. The electricity and gas supplier of this home is Octopus Energy.
We will use Octopus Energy’s fixed tariff which is currently the most popular tariff in the market. The requirements for this tariff are that the standing charges and unit rates are a fixed rate for a period of 12 months, a factor that makes it very easy to calculate the monthly energy bills (Octopus Energy, 2019). Moreover, the fixed energy tariff also one of the cheapest tariffs of the company. The average pricing of Octopus Energy Fixed Tariff is shown in the table below.
Table 1 Octopus Energy Fixed Tariff (Octopus Energy. (2019)
Utility Unit rate per kWh Standing charge per kWh
Electricity 14.94p 19.02p
Gas 3.56p 16.80p
Energy Audit
According to the current statistics, a standard room has an average energy consuming units as shown in the table below.
Utility Wattage
Kitchen units Fridge/Freezer 150
Oven 2000
Electric Hob 1500
Microwave Oven 800
Coffee maker 800
Blender 300
Toaster 1200
Kettle 1200
Washing machine 700
Tumble dryer 1250
Lighting fixture-1 60
Lighting fixture-2 60
Living Room Television 90
Phone charger 5
Tablet charger 15
Radio 10
Lighting fixture-1 60
Lighting fixture-2 60
Lamp 60
Hall Computer Laptop 40
Printer 50
Wi-Fi router 6
Lighting fixture 11
Vacuum cleaner 500
Iron 1000
Bathroom Electric shower 1000
Lighting fixture 360
Bedroom Phone charger 5
Tablet charger 15
Hair dryer 1000
Lighting fixture 11
Lamp 60
Total 14378
The table above displays the estimated monthly energy consumption for a one bedroom home. The current estimated monthly energy consumption for these home stands at 14, 378 watts. In addition, the heating system’s annual gas usage for a one bedroom flat stands at 12,000 kWh which averages to about 1,000 kWh per month.
Costing
Utility Wattage Unit rate per kWh Total Cost
Kitchen units Fridge/Freezer 150 14.94 2241
Oven 2000 14.94 29880
Electric Hob 1500 14.94 22410
Microwave Oven 800 14.94 11952
Coffee maker 800 14.94 11952
Blender 300 14.94 4482
Toaster 1200 14.94 17928
Kettle 1200 14.94 17928
Washing machine 700 14.94 10458
Tumble dryer 1250 14.94 18675
Lighting fixture-1 60 14.94 896.4
Lighting fixture-2 60 14.94 896.4
Living Room Television 90 14.94 1344.6
Phone charger 5 14.94 74.7
Tablet charger 15 14.94 224.1
Radio 10 14.94 149.4
Lighting fixture-1 60 14.94 896.4
Lighting fixture-2 60 14.94 896.4
Lamp 60 14.94 896.4
Hall Computer Laptop 40 14.94 597.6
Printer 50 14.94 747
Wi-Fi router 6 14.94 89.64
Lighting fixture 11 14.94 164.34
Vacuum cleaner 500 14.94 7470
Iron 1000 14.94 14940
Bathroom Electric shower 1000 14.94 14940
Lighting fixture 360 14.94 5378.4
Bedroom Phone charger 5 14.94 74.7
Tablet charger 15 14.94 224.1
Hair dryer 1000 14.94 14940
Lighting fixture 11 14.94 164.34
Lamp 60 14.94 896.4
Total 14378 £ 298.35
The table above displays the estimated monthly energy consumption for a one bedroom home. The current estimated monthly energy consumption for this home stands at 14, 378 watts while the average Unit rate per kWh is 14.94p. This leads to a total electricity cost for this one bedroom home within a month to be £ 298.35. In addition, the heating system’s annual gas usage for a one bedroom flat stands at 12,000 kWh which averages to about 1,000 kWh per month. This means that the average monthly cost gas energy cost amounts to about £200 in a month. As such the total energy cost for this one bedroom house within a month can be estimated to be about £498.35. This is a very high and expensive figure to maintain over a long period, which means that the right measures should be put in place to bring it down.
Part B: Energy Saving and Implementation
Having analyzed the above data, it is quite clear that appropriate action should be taken to minimize the monthly energy consumption and also find alternative equipments or appliances that will decrease the energy consumption.
Among the measures that can be adopted to decrease power consumption at the home Is to replace the existing bulbs with energy saver bulbs. LED bulbs are known to consume very little power. Having these LED bulbs in place will ensure that some watts are saved as they consume very little energy.
Most appliances consuming a lot of energy are kitchen appliances mainly; the Oven, Electric Hob, Toaster and the Kettle. These appliances need to be replaced with alternatives in order to conserve the energy being consumed at the house. At the moment the most viable option would be to decrease their usage as a temporarily measure but a permanent solution of finding better appliances that consume less energy should be explored.
In addition, bedroom appliances like the Hair dryer and Iron also consume an average of 1,000 watts each which is very high for such a small house. As such, alternative appliances that consume less energy should be considered as a permanent solution to this challenge. Arif and Stojcevski (2014) also suggests reducing the overall working hours of these appliances should also be considered as another cost cutting measure.
Finally, cost gas energy cost amounts to about £200 in a month which is a very high figure. This can be overcome by seeking for alternative sources like installing solar panels. Moreover, although the Octopus Energy’s fixed tariff is currently the most popular tariff in the market, we should always be on the lookout for better and cheaper tariffs in the market as they would help bring down the energy costs.Having these measures in place will go a long way in bringing down the overall electricity and energy costs down.
Conclusion
From the foregoing, we can conclude that after changing the appliances that consume the most energy at the house, we can be able to reduce the overall electricity and energy costs. This audit therefore recommends that some kitchen and bedroom appliance that consume the highest amount of energy should be replaced with new ones. In addition, reducing the overall working hours of these appliances should also be considered as another cutting measure. Currently, the Octopus Energy’s fixed tariff is currently the most popular tariff in the market. The requirements for this tariff are that the standing charges and unit rates are a fixed rate for a period of 12 months, a factor that makes it very easy to calculate the monthly energy bills. However, we should always be n the lookout for better and cheaper tariffs in the market as they would help bring down the energy costs. Putting these measures in place will enhance power efficiency at the home and reduce the monthly energy costs.
References
Arif, M. T., Oo, A. M. T., & Stojcevski, A. (2014). An investigation for improved home energy management. 2014 Australasian Universities Power Engineering Conference (AUPEC). doi: 10.1109/aupec.2014.6966596
Octopus Energy. (2019). A new breed of energy supplier. Retrieved from https://octopus.energy/.
Schueman, D. (2016). The Residential energy audit manual. Lilburn, GA: Fairmont Press.
