CVEN1701 Assignment Final
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School
University of New South Wales *
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Course
1701
Subject
Industrial Engineering
Date
Apr 3, 2024
Type
Pages
4
Uploaded by ChefWillpowerTapir36
Ethan Chau
CVEN1701
Assignment 2
10/11/2023
1.0 Introduction
An energy audit has been required by the NSW government to estimate the carbon footprint with household electrical power consumption of an average UNSW student. Since this is for a UNSW student, this report will be investigating the typical electrical use of myself which then this data will be inputted to create a Monte Carlo Simulation. The purpose of this audit is to determine the average power consumption, then to resolve issues on power consumption if required. The average daily electricity usage is approximately 15.7 kWh per day, using this value will roughly determine the state of my consumption patterns in accordance with the average Australian consumption.
2.0 Methodology
The first step undertaken to estimate the total daily power consumption was to list all the appliances I would use in my day-to-day life. The list includes Chargers, Kettle, Microwave, Refrigerator, Washing Machine, Television, Computer, etc. The power usage of each appliance was then determined by either searching up values or reading values on the items. To then determine the minimum, expected and maximum power consumption, the estimated minimum, expected and maximum hours used on each appliance was estimated. For example, for phone charger, 0.5, 1.5, 4 hours respectively. The number of hours was then multiplied by Power usage to determine total power consumption of that appliance. Since most power usages were given in W, it was required to divide the value by 1000 to convert it into kW which gave the final energy consumption of the appliance. The following was completed for the rest of the dataset. For appliances that were shared within the household of four people, the total power consumption was divided by four for simplicity. A risk triangle function was then calculated for each function which determined the uncertainties. Furthermore, all function values were added which then allowed for a Monte Carlo simulation to be completed giving a Probability Density function and Distribution graph.
Table 1: Appliances and their Power Usage
Appliances
Power Usage (kW)
Phone Charger
0.02
MacBook Charger
0.09
Kettle
2
Refrigerator
0.03
Washing Machine
0.08
Clothes Dryer
3
Television
0.015
Computer
1.3
Coffee Maker
1
Hair Dryer
1.5
Microwave
1
Vacuum Cleaner
1.7
Table 2: Minimum, expected, and maximum energy usage of appliances
2.1 Results
Graph 1: Distribution of energy consuming appliances.
This graph shows the distribution impact of each appliances impact of power consumption which allows a comparison of which appliances take the most/least power.
Graph 2: PDF of total energy consumption of a UNSW student
The results show that even the at the high range of the PDF a UNSW student will spend less power than the average Australian at roughly 16kWh. However, the average UNSW student will consume 10kWH – 12.75kWh per day. This result can be due multiple factors mainly branching from lifestyle. Due to myself also living in a shared household, electricity consumption of some appliances was calculated to be split per person. Furthermore, due to lifestyle, the average university student would have a transient lifestyle meaning that majority of their time out and about meaning that electricity usage would not be as high.
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2.3 Carbon Footprint
The product of power consumption and carbon intensity is used to estimate carbon footprint. Hence, using a Power Consumption of 11.5kWh and assuming a Carbon Intensity of 0.4kg CO2e/kWh gives a total Carbon Footprint of 5.2kg CO2e.
3.0 Recommendations Even though the average UNSW student will spend less power than the average Australian, it is still best to reduce power consumption. Despite the Carbon Footprint being roughly 5.2kg CO2e just only on appliances, (note that not every single appliance was included such as an aircon which will increase both total power consumption and Carbon Footprint), this number is still relatively high. However, there are always method to reduce energy consumption. This can include using energy efficient appliances. From Graph 1, the top energy consuming appliances were a vacuum cleaner, clothes dryer, and a computer. There are multiple solutions to reduce energy consumption in this situation. For instance, purchasing more energy efficient appliances in all three categories. Furthermore, with regards to a computer a potential solution could be not leaving it on the whole time and shutting it down when idle as most of the hours of energy consumption came from it being idle. In addition, for chargers a solution could be to not overcharge devices and unplug instantly when finished which can also reduce hours of chargers consuming energy. Overall, despite the average UNSW student consuming less energy than the average Australian, it can still be improved through a plethora of methods which will reduce our Carbon Footprint as, even a 5.2kg CO2e on just power consumption is not suitable enough for the Earth to be sustainable.
4.0 References amberstudent.com. (n.d.). Cost of Living in Sydney as a Student | Amber
. [online] Available at: https://amberstudent.com/blog/post/cost-of-living-in-sydney-as-a-student. Investopedia. (n.d.). What Can The Monte Carlo Simulation Do For Your Portfolio?
[online] Available at: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/112514/monte-carlo-simulation-
basics.asp#:~:text=A%20Monte%20Carlo%20simulation%20considers. Local, R. (2023). Average Electricity Bills in Sydney (2023 - 2024)
. [online] Captain Cook Electrical. Available at: https://www.captaincookelectrical.com.au/electrical-blog/average-electricity-bills-in-
sydney/#:~:text=Average%20Electricity%20Bills%20per%20Household&text=Across%20the%20Sydn
ey%20LGAs%20the. University of Michigan (2022). Carbon Footprint Factsheet
. [online] Center for Sustainable Systems. Available at: https://css.umich.edu/publications/factsheets/sustainability-indicators/carbon-
footprint-factsheet. Victoria State Government (2022). Top 10 energy-saving tips
. [online] Energy. Available at: https://www.energy.vic.gov.au/for-households/save-energy-and-money/top-10-energy-saving-tips.