Wastage of Electricity

October 18, 2021

Wastage of Electricity

By: Kinjal, Ira, Siya and Ritsika

Without giving much thought we all use and need energy for our daily life to function properly. From charging your laptop to using an AC everything needs electricity. And just like some non-renewable sources we use electricity carelessly without thinking of the consequences that will follow after. Electricity is an important source which often goes to waste, from using lights unnecessarily to fans and many other home appliances that are left on even when no one is using them. So, in this blog let us look at some causes, effect and solutions of electricity wastage.

The Causes

Keeping refrigerator door open: Holding the refrigerator door open while you decide what to eat wastes a lot of electricity. Keeping warm leftovers in the fridge also uses a lot of electricity, and you should avoid doing that to keep your refrigerator running efficiently.
Leaving your appliances plugged in: Leaving your gadgets connected to the power at all times (when you are not using it) wastes electricity. Electronics and appliances like phone chargers, laptops, televisions, curling irons, and kitchen appliances use energy even when they're turned off.
Keeping the lights on: Keeping the lights/fan/ac on when not needed wastes a lot of electricity.
Not using lids of pots and pans: Using a lid will help the food cook faster, which allows you to use less energy in the process.
Brightness of TV: Setting your TV to full brightness consumes and wastes a lot of electricity and energy. 30% of the electricity is used for the brightness of TV.
Running your dishwasher when not full: An average dishwasher uses about 1,800 watts of electricity to complete one wash and dry cycle. You should use the dishwasher only when it is completely full to save electricity. Instead of keeping the dishes in the dishwasher to dry, leave them on the counter to air dry.
Washing clothes and showering in hot water: heating water uses about 90% of the energy it takes to operate a clothes washer. Washing machines can get the clothes clean with cool water.
Not using a thermostat: A thermostat allows you to make sure you're not heating or cooling an empty house during the workday

The Consequences

Consequences of electricity wastage:

Newton’s third law of motions states ‘every action has its equal reaction’ looks like it applies for careless electricity consumption too. All forms of electricity and usage of them have some sort of impact on the environment as well as humans themselves. These impacts can be positive and negative.

Economic consequences-

Having access to abundant, affordable, secure and clean energy is a tremendous benefit to humans. But, due to overuse of electricity, there is an increased demand while the supply remains limited.
Fossil fuels are the most common sources for electricity but as they are natural elements found in the earth they are a finite source. This majorly causes problems like fluctuation and instability in the economy.
Nations whose public usage of energy is mainly from the energy produced within the nation itself, are safe. But, the ones who rely on foreign nations as their sources, will be vulnerable during needful times as the nations who export the energy will inflate their prices to the point where it isn’t affordable by the customer nations. Also the nations who export could possibly stop their export of energy so that they can save it for their own nation.
Not having enough energy supply is a direct hit on the quality of life of the individuals/ citizens. Energy is an integral part of our lives.

Environmental consequences-

The primary environmental effect is the increased carbon footprint. The gasses released during the extraction and usage of the fossil fuels are mainly greenhouse gasses.
These gasses are the source of climate change; when they are released into the atmosphere, they eat away at the ozone layer which in turn allows UV rays to come through. The gasses also form a layer around the Earth's atmosphere which does not allow neither the heat produced within Earth and nor the UV rays -to escape the atmosphere. This causes increased levels of heat throughout the globe, aka - global warming.

Solutions

But it is still not too late, we can still prevent the situation from getting uglier. According to auditors and technical experts, we can save around 5 to 10% by stopping electricity wastage every month. We can save this with a few changes in our day to day consumption behavior.

Refrigeration:

- Refrigeration and chilling can account for up to 50% of a site’s energy costs. To save this energy, you should prevent overcooling to minimize energy costs and improve efficiency, maintain systems and pipework - ensure they are not blocked, dirty or leaking

- Upgrade or replace inefficient equipment.

Lighting:

- The normal lighting we use can also waste large amounts of electricity.

- In order to save on the electricity, we should use natural daylight to its maximum.

- Using lights during the day is a classic example of electricity wasted. To add on, one should also replace current lights with LED’s. – (Savings over CFL = 30% minimum).

- Lastly, cleaning and getting rid of dust from your lighting fixtures will help to maintain illumination.

Water heaters:

- Water Heaters or Geysers can contribute to the wastage of electricity. Insulating the water heater helps save thermal losses in turn saving the electricity consumed to make up for the thermal losses.

- To add on, similar to insulating the water heater, insulating the pipes can also be very effective.

- Another solution can be to install heat traps (valves or loops). They are used to stop hot water from flowing out of your tank when you don’t want it to.

Renewable energy:

- Extracting and burning fossil fuels to produce electricity releases carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping greenhouse gases, as well as local air pollutants. It also yields a lot of waste: Two-thirds of the energy in fossil fuels is lost – vented as heat – at most power plants in the United States.

- The so-called “waste heat” is a by-product of generating the energy, part of the thermodynamic process. The typical power plant burns three units of fuel to generate just one unit of electricity.

- Renewable sources, such as wind and solar, burn no fuel and release no greenhouse gases. They are far more effective at converting energy into electricity, keeping waste minimal, while saving money.

- Renewables such as wind and solar, however, use negligible amounts of water in turning raw energy into usable electricity.