In this article, we discuss how to optimise power consumption and energy use, as home owners start to demand solutions that reduce their energy consumption.

Homes have transformed over the years as technology advances continue to surge. The increase in electrical and electronic devices in the home has meant a steady increase in the amount of power we consume. While the use of technology enhances our everyday lives, this increase in power use coupled with rising energy costs, has meant there is a much greater awareness of power consumption in the home.

Understanding your usage

As awareness grows among consumers, understanding where this power is being used is key in reducing the household electricity bill.

More and more products are becoming available on the market, that track the use of utilities with a definite focus on power use. Such devices are usually fitted into a home’s electrical switch board or plugged into power outlets where they give an indication to the amount of power being consumed in real time. Some devices also offer the ability to monitor multiple circuits or phases to give an indication of total power consumption.

Measure, monitor and control

There is however, more to just monitoring overall power use in the home. The ability to record individual circuits’ consumption and review this information can show trends in use over the course of hours, days, weeks or even months.

The soon to be released Clipsal C-Bus Current Monitoring Unit (CMU) will offer home owners who have the C-Bus home control system installed the ability to take advantage of all of these options.

The CMU uses split-core current transformers (CTs) that can be placed around the circuit tails inside the electrical switchboard to measure circuit current. By specifying the typical voltage of the installation during commissioning, the CMU can calculate the power used in the circuit with a strong degree of accuracy. The ability to detect minute changes in the calculated power (as little as 10W) and broadcast the information out onto the C-Bus network enables other devices to measure the power consumption. Field trials have shown that historical graphing will even show the ‘ripple effect’ of the compressor cycling on a refrigerator. This broadcast can be picked up by devices such as touch screens or Wiser home control to give the home owner a dashboard where the power consumption and history can be viewed.

With the many interface types supported by Wiser, this can be viewed on a web browser or handheld devices such as the iPhone. The system goes a step further by including the ability to set thresholds to immediately notify the home owner if certain levels are exceeded.

The issue of measuring, monitoring and controlling power use in the home is not isolated to Australia. Global power consumption is front of mind in many parts of the world. With such a vast array of installation types throughout the world, systems need to be as universal as possible. By offering a variety of current ranges, the ability to cover more of the possible scenarios increases. Likewise, having the ability to accommodate multiple CT’s that can operate in multiple current ranges, helps cover such a requirement.

If monitoring the whole incoming supply is a requirement, a current range of 0-80A is more likely a requirement. If individual circuit monitoring is desired, then 0-40A would be a preferred range. This can even be extended to include groups of circuits such as all power circuits together so the use within the home can be broken down further. When using the CMU, selection of either of these ranges is performed during the commissioning of the system.

Automated efficiency

Now that the home owner knows and understands where and how power in their home is being used, they are empowered to take the appropriate action to reduce their power bills. This doesn’t need to be extensive or expensive, and may be as simple as making small changes to their daily routine or habits.

The predicted use feature shows home owners that a small change now can have a massive impact on how much power will be saved at the end of the day, if a change is made. This can be extended to show how much power can be saved at the end of the month, based on the change. Displaying power however doesn’t necessarily translate into real dollar savings in the eye of the consumer. By loading tariffs into the system, the savings observed can be translated into dollar values so the small changes can relate to what the home owner better understands… money! For those who are conscious of the environment, this can also be easily translated into greenhouse gas emissions which can also be displayed on any of the display types.

Many electronic devices in the home have a standby state, particularly those that use a remote control to operate. Such devices contribute considerably to wasted power in the home. Add devices such as phone chargers, power supplied for printers and devices that don’t have LED’s and this soon mounts up.

A recent review found that over 200W of power was being wasted by standby operation in some homes. By switching these devices off for over 14 hours during the week (6 hours over night and 8 hours during the day when the home was unoccupied), the home owner was able to save in excess of 2.8kW per day. While this doesn’t seem much on the surface, it equates to over $140 per year for a seemingly small change. By using the control system to oversee this by switching off the nominated devices when the home’s security system was armed, the home owner didn’t need to make any extra effort.

Leveraging the existing C-Bus installation, a system installer will be able to assist the home owner realise even more savings without impacting on their lives. Liaising with professional Installers, home owners are also able to use information generated through devices such as the CMU to identify where they can take immediate action to further achieve efficiency gains.

The ability to effectively measure, monitor and control the power consumption in the home through devices such as the Clipsal C-Bus CMU, empowers the home owner to reduce or modify their energy consumption without compromising their lifestyle. All of this can be achieved without impacting upon comfort and convenience while taking advantage their new or existing home control system.