Lab 1_Personal Energy Consumption
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Date of Discussion: February 1, 2023 ENVR 1301-014
Name: Jonathan Venegas Total Points: 100
(Due by: Feb. 08
th
, 11:59 pm)
Lab 1: Personal Energy Consumption
Purpose:
Record and calculate approximate personal energy use in the home today and compare and contrast the amounts, by-products, and monetary costs of competing fuels.
Introduction:
Electrical consumption has gone up in the United States over the last 50 years for several
reasons, including increased per capita demand and commercial and industrial demand from
economic expansion. While the number of Americans grew by 87% from 1950 through 2000,
their energy consumption expanded by a much greater 194%.
At the same time, some traditional sources of fuel for electrical generation have stagnated or
even fallen. In the energy mix today, coal is the dominant fossil fuel to produce electricity –
and growing. In 2001, 51.7% of our electricity was from coal. Petroleum now supplies very
little electricity in the US. Natural gas supplies about 16% of our electricity. Natural gas
supply and demand were in relative balance in the US until the mid-1980’s, when a
production- consumption gap developed. As a result, in 2001 domestic production of natural
gas was 19.7 trillion cubic feet, consumption as 22.2 trillion cubic feet, and imports were
3.98 trillion cubic feet.
Nuclear electric power did not exist in this country until 1957. The new industry expanded
rapidly until the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania and the Chernobyl
catastrophe in Ukraine in 1986. As fewer new units came online and old units began to shut
down, the number of operable units fell to 104 in 2001. Today about 21% of our electricity is
from nuclear power, a portion currently in a downtrend.
Our personal use of electricity is very small when compared to the total used in the US today,
and personal consumption of fuels is equally small. But as you have seen in other
investigations, when the small amounts used by individuals are added up, they become a very
significant value for a large population. Personal decisions about how much energy to use or
save and which sources to depend on are very significant.
1
Date of Discussion: February 1, 2023 Figure 1
:
Residential site electricity consumption by end use for the U.S. in 2015. Procedure:
1.
On the Home Electrical Use Survey, record the amount of time you use each appliance each day. You must include ALL your personal energy use (which includes energy required to wash YOUR
clothes or dishes or to cook YOUR
food). If an appliance is used a few times a week or less, prorate it to a daily
use
.
2.
Convert watts to kilowatts (1 kW = 1000 W)
3.
Determine energy use in kilowatt-hours/day.
2
Date of Discussion: February 1, 2023 Activity: (20points)
Appliance
Approx.
Power
(W)
Power (kW)
#hr/day
Energy/day
(kWh/day)
Central AC
1100
1.1
4
4.4
Room AC
1360
1.36
4
5.44
Space heater
1500
1.5
0
0
Water heater
4500
4.5
4
4
Clothes washer
640
.65
1
.64
Clothes dryer
4800
4.8
1
4.8
Dishwasher
2000
2
1
2
Refrigerator
1270
1.27
24
30.48
Blender
385
.385
0
0
Coffeemaker
1100
1.1
0
0
Oven
3500
3.5
1
3.5
Stove
1800
1.8
1
1.8
Microwave oven
1500
1.5
0
0
Toaster
1100
1.1
0
0
Toaster oven
1150
1.15
0
0
Computer
40
.04
6
.24
Printer/Scanner
25
.025
0
0
Radio / Clock radio
10
.01
0
0
Cell phone charger
10
.01
7
.07
Cordless phone
10
.01
7
.07
Television
125
.125
4
.5
Stereo / CD player
50
.05
0
0
VCR/DVD/Gaming
system
25
.025
3
.075
Hair dryer/styling
product
1200
1.2
0
0
Iron
1200
1.2
0
0
Fan
200
.2
2
.2
Vacuum cleaner
960
.96
0
0
Lamp / Overhead
light
75
.075
2
.15
Totals
31,645
31.645
72
58.365
Add other appliances to the table, if needed. Use the wattage from the appliance itself or from the following link. (Please note: Highlight the cell where you are adding a value for wattage or changing it.)
Analysis Questions: (80 points)
3
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