Rally to the Call of Energy Efficiency
by Steve Hill
It’s about time we all answered the call - what call? The call to action on energy saving and efficiency.
Now you may say you are doing your bit, but is it sustained?
That is the problem for most, and I include myself in this. We get the utility bill in. at home or at work, and our eyes come out on sticks when we look at the amount we are having to pay. We immediately go round turning off lights, heaters, air-con and anything else that guzzles the power.
A few days later we drop back into our old habits and become wasteful again. So how do we change the way we behave regarding power use - long term?
We need to be able to see what we are using, continually not just monthly or quarterly.
Smart Meters are often pointed to as the answer - and they will be better but they generally do not show you what you are using now, they display what you used up to a day previously, again it is retrospective, we have used the power and now we can see what we used.
In most modern cars you not only see your speed and can calculate what fuel you are using you have a computer that will show you precisely what your consumption is at that time through miles or kilometers per gallon or liter.
Yet with electricity we do not have the same system - we do not know what we have used until we have used it and owe the money for it.
That is why at Enigin we have developed the Eniscope - a real-time energy montior that shows you precisely how much energy you are using now, this very moment. Not only your kilowatts usages but it can measure over 100 power parameters, vital for businesses, and give you accurate readings now of what your are using now.
The Eniscope can analyse energy use in a whole building, a department, an office or an indivdual piece of equipment - in other words down to a granular level.
With the Eniscopes range of displays means that staff and the public can see what energy is being used now, that can change behaviour not just for the short term but permanently.
This is very good for the public and private sector but would Eniscope help at home?
It most certainly would but it is a little pricey for the domestic market and most of the parameters would do little for the homeowner - but residential groups are showing an interest in monitoring groups of residences, either apartments or houses.
Yes the call is there for us to act, but we need the equipment to make sure we act in a beneficial way and not just for the short term.
Enigin are there to help the business and public organisations but at home we need to apply the same practices, even if we do not know what we are using at any one time. Let’s all start becoming energy efficient and save money.