An energy efficiency study or an energy efficiency audit is the analysis of how well an organization is able to utilize energy. However, these are usually done in large factories many homes are doing their own audits to help in conserving energy. Some areas that are taken into consideration when doing energy audits are:
- Include all the appliances, processes and plants in the study. By doing this you will know exactly how much energy is required for each area and hence will be able to ensure that the supply is neither too little nor too much.
- Make sure you take into account all the sources of energy including thermal, electrical as well as mechanical. By doing this, you are able to reduce the supply of electrical energy if there is an excess amount of thermal energy being supplied. The excess energy can be converted and supplied at a cheaper cost than the more expensive electric energy available.
- Make sure all your appliances like machines and generators are well maintained and are running well. Upgrade any machines that you fell are not producing enough product in relation to the energy they are consuming. Check the supply of electricity from the main source.
- The wiring could be faulty which might cause drastic increases in the electric bills. Make sure all the switchboards and other electrical transformers are in proper working condition.
- Study the consumption and performance of all other appliances like heaters, air conditioners, lights (use energy efficient bulbs), refrigerators etc.
These methods will help in identifying the problem areas that are not utilizing the energy efficiently and can be taken care of. If you are looking to do an efficiency audit in your house you could start by checking your electric bills over the last year, notice any extra usage and which months. If your energy bill is more in winter it means that, you are using the heater more than the air conditioner in summer. A way to reduce this consumption is by insulating your house before winter. If you are spending more in summer, look at alternatives to using the air conditioner. This will help you identify what you have to look into. However the easiest way to reduce energy consumption is by changing all your bulbs in the house to low-energy consuming bulbs which make quite a difference in the energy saving.