May 6th, 2013

Created by Jhonatan Gil.

Electricity reduction

Photos by Jhonatan Gil.

The goal to become less dependent over electricity

My family and I have already made our move. Were trying our best to become less dependent over electricity. At times we may forget our current goal, but were constantly following the plan. At first I started off with having a short meeting. It wasnt anything too serious, I just wanted to advise my parents to make small changes in their daily habits. They were immediately intrigued and we all agreed to reduce electricity usage. Our first plan was to leave the lights off for the entire day with the curtains open, until it started to get dark outside. We usually use this plan, but a few lights may be left on due to the lighting in that certain room. The ACs are rarely used since the temperature of our house is quite comfortable. At times I may leave my AC on because FACTS ABOUT THE ISSUE: I enjoy being in a room with a fairly cool temperature (at less than 15 C). The most used electronics in my house are laptops and TVs, even though I really dont use laptops (mainly for school purposes) and I tend to get bored watching TV. But my parents are usually hooked to both. I always tell them to turn the TV off or unplug it if theyre done watching it and to leave their laptops unplugged if theyre fully charged. Fortunately, they follow my instructions quite well. In our house, we have a lot of electronics for multiple purposes, such as an iPhone speaker dock, digital frames, 3 TVs, 1 desktop computer, and other small things that are constantly left plugged

With the worlds current state, it is crucial for everyone to start reducing the amount of electricity they use at home. At this pace, Earth could fall into a darkness that we may not be able get it out of and that is why it is better to start sooner than later. Would you like it if your children or childrens children had to live in a consumed world, or would you make a small sacrifice for them to have a better future?

and running. Most of the time we forget, or dont mind leaving some of those electronics plugged in since we have quite a few. I dont think it causes a huge change in our overall KwH usage. The washing machines and dryers are used nearly everyday, but we really dont want to change that. And other than that, were doing quite well with consuming less electricity. Actually, ever since I started this Ive been using electronics less or spending more time outside with my parents so we can leave everything in our home turned off. Its actually very productive and fun at the same time. Its great to see that this is making a positive change in our habits and lives.

Lighting currently accounts for about 20% of U.S. electricity consumption. From 2008 to 2030, world energy consumption is expected to increase more than 55% The way electricity is made is very harmful to the Earths environment. Most of it is made through coal or oil, which creates harmful carbon dioxide for our ozone layer. So too much of it will cause a lot of pollution. And if this continues, some places in the world may be too polluted for human living conditions. That is why we must stop using so much electricity!

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Month

Months Past

September October November December January February March April May June July August September October November

Electricity Usage (KwH) 1 2056

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1326 1246 1262 1231 1187 1,109 1002 837.83 734.6 631.37 528.14 424.91 321.68 218.45

Below is my graph based on my electricity usage per month. Fortunately, there has been a decrease in my usage. The linear line on the graph is my fitted line. Since my first month is an out liar, I didnt really consider it in the graph. I mostly used my more recent data, which is more linear. From about December to April my data has been most linear. My actual is from 1 8 (Sept April). The rest is my prediction that I made with my fitted line

ELECTRICITY USAGE (KWH)

Electricity Usage (KwH)

2500 2000

10 11 12 13 14 15

1500 Electricity Usage (KwH) Linear (Electricity Usage (KwH)) 500 y = -103.23x + 1766.9 R = 0.9165 0 0 5 10 15 20

1000

MONTHS PAST (APRIL TO NOVEMBER)

Predictions Once my graph was created, and I had all my data onto excel, I used some of the equations on excel to get mine. My equation of my fitted line is y= 03.23x + 1766.9. The equation only worksand with my predictions because it tries equation. to make them as linear as possible. And since my data is a bit spread apart and has an out liar, I created a line the best fits the whole graph. I think that my equation is quite accurate because in my more recent months, my usage began to decay more linearly and my equation mostly considers those points of data. And if I continued at a pace like I did and how I predict I will do, in a few months I will reach 300 KwH (more precisely, 5-6 months). If I want something around 300 KwH, then 5 months will do. But if Im looking to get 300 KwH exactly, then Ill have to stop somewhere in between October and November. How the equation works: Its actually very simple. X is the month number. So if Im trying to predict my data for September (13th month), Ill simply place 13 as x. y = -103.23*13+ 1766.9 . And Y will equal 424.91. Although my predictions show that it would only take me 5 to 6 months to reach 300 KwH, I think it would take me a lot more. Honestly, I dont think I will ever reach 300 KwH since there are somethings in my house that I would rather leave on and I wouldnt have the responsibility to turn everything off every once in a while. I really like the way my habits have changed and how my family and I have managed to lower our monthly usage by so much. It brings me a sense of accomplishment when I see that our electricity usage has lowered by about 50%. Still, reaching 300 KwH is a huge task, especially for people who have a bigger family and a lot of electronics. I think that my current usage is probably near the lowest I will go. Ive now realized that the tiny changes that someone can make can really cause a huge difference and if everyone just did their part, then the world would be in a much better state. Well, I thank my parents for helping me out in my plan to lower our electricity usage and

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Spring 2016, Issue 4