Watt's up?
After conducting the appliance tour in your neighbor's rooms (and hopefully your own as well) what are your observations on the use of electricity in the res halls?
posted by UVM Eco-Reps Program Coordinator @ 3:10 PM
After conducting the appliance tour in your neighbor's rooms (and hopefully your own as well) what are your observations on the use of electricity in the res halls?
posted by UVM Eco-Reps Program Coordinator @ 3:10 PM
32 Comments:
Residents on my floor we amazed by the amount of energy used by static appliances, for example their XBoxes on 'standby. Twinkle lights also used much more energy than realized, which caused a set of room mates vow to keep then unplugged during the night, instead of leaving them on even while they are sleeping. A few people we very hesitant to unplug things and take the time to "deal with the environment," people were wary of unplugging alarm clocks as well.
When conducting the Residence Hall Energy Inventory the biggest thing I noticed was the craziness of electricity that hairdryers and straighteners use. A hairdryer on low was 435 watts and high was 1500 watts. I also noticed cell phone chargers didn't emit any energy unless they are actually plugged into a phone and alarm clocks only emitted 1 watt.
-Olivia B.
All of the rooms I surveyed were singles so overall they all had their own minifridges and microwaves. Almost everyone used power strip, but many of them said they didn't use turn off the power strips when the electronic were not in use. I told a few people about how energy is still being used when electronics are turned off but still plugged in.
Natalie
I was amazed at the number of appliances we use daily. I could not get the Kill A Watt meter to work properly, which is a pity: I think it would have been more educational for residents, although fewer would have been willing. Perhaps we could do some sort of demonstration with the Kill A Watt and common appliances, and demonstrate energy-saving techniques as well? I don't think most people are aware of the issues, or are not aware of them on a daily basis: one resident commented that she hoped her numbers weren't really bad, and a few others made comments about the energy use of various appliances. I think that students would do more to conserve electricity if they 2) knew how and b) were reminded.
Most (90 percent) of the residents did use power strips- they had to plug in so many appliances that they had no other choice! The highest total number of appliances in on room was 26 (in a triple) and the lowest was 10, in a double. The average number of appliances used per room was 16.1 appliances. Wow. Looking around my own room, I know I can be better with my own six appliances. Is there a way to manufacture appliances so that they do not suck vampire energy?
~Anna H-L
First, I found this slightly difficult to complete, as many people did not want their appliances to be unplugged. Things such as microwaves, alarm clocks, and other appliances with clocks have to be reset once unplugged, and this seemed to be an annoyance, which I can understand. Many people were not aware of the amount of energy being used by their plugged in but not in use appliances. Many students told me that it is horrible that they are using that much energy, but that it is such a pain to unplug these things when not in use, as many of their outlets are difficult to reach, or they use the clock on the appliance.
Walking around Living and Learning, it seemed like a lot of people were embarrassed by the number of electronics they had. I visited 10 different suites and most of the suites had a mini fridge in every room (that is 4-6 fridges for each suite!). Also, I noticed that a lot of the suites left string lights on in their common rooms even though no one was occupying the space. On a positive note, all of the suites utilized power strips for their electronics and most microwave owners left their microwaves unplugged when not in use.
greenhousers sure use a lot of appliances! I was surprised to see how many rooms keep most of their appliances plugged in all the time. i encouraged residents to unplug their appliances especially their microwaves. I was most surprised by the amount of energy used by the hair product appliances like blow dryers and hair straighteners.
-Liz
my residents were all very quick to comment that their ___ was never plugged in or that it was energy star or they always turned it off or it had a power-save setting. I though this was significant. Its great if they are actually doing all of those things but it seemed more like they were defending their multiple mini-fridges by saying they were efficient, etc. But they were all aware at least.
I thought it would not be too hard to reduce the amount of energu use even though not many of the residentes are environmentally aware of the impact of energy use. Many cases of energy waste have been seen in the building. most of the electrical appliances were pulgged in all day, and desk lights seemed to be on all the time. The most extreme case I obseved was three empty pulgged-in fredges in one sutie.
I think our priority is to tackle such wasting.
The most of the residents did not want me to use the kill-a-watt, and they seemed to feel very uncomfortable to let someone in their rooms for "energy survey." I guess Eco-Reps are doing things that many people are not willing to talk about. Envirohmental communication must be one of hte most important keys.
I thought it would not be too hard to reduce the amount of energy use even though not many of the residents are environmentally aware of the impact of energy use. Many cases of energy waste have been seen in the building. most of the electrical appliances were plugged in all day, and desk lights seemed to be on all the time. The most extreme case I observed was three empty plugged-in fridges in one suite.
I think our priority is to tackle such wasting.
The most of the residents did not want me to use the kill-a-watt, and they seemed to feel very uncomfortable to let someone in their rooms for "energy survey." I guess Eco-Reps are doing things that many people are not willing to talk about. Environmental communication must be one of hte most important keys.
-Kazuha
I also think that my residents were surprised by the amount of energy their appliances use. I also found a lot of people who would try to justify their appliances. For example I got a lot of "Oh well we never use that...". I was also surprised to find out how much energy the decorative lights use. I was happy to see that not many people have microwaves in their rooms and use the ones in the kitchens instead.
- Alyssa Iveson
Even after last year, the amount of energy we use in our room still surprises me. Especially hair dryers! A lot of people had no idea that their appliances could use energy even when they weren't on, like cell phone chargers. Also like Fiona said, many people still didn't want to unplug things like alarm clocks which would need to be reset repeatedly. Using surge protectors was very common as well, which could be another contributor to that ideology.
I was really shocked by the wide range of wattage used by different appliances. While alarm clocks used only 1 watt, some of the microwaves used 1147 watts! Also, one of the rooms I found had an espresso machine that used almost 1000 watts. It was nice to see that a lot of people were using powerstrips, though. As for the activity, it was interesting to see people's reactions when I asked to Kill-A-Watt their rooms. Either they were embarrassed and felt policed by the activity, or they hesitated and did not consent because of messy rooms, inconvenience, etc.
-Anya Gedrath-Smith
Many people were not aware that devices draw energy even when not in use, and said they would unplug them now that they knew, or would at least be more conscious. Again, it is hard to get people to unplug certain things every day when they need to crawl under a desk and riffle through wires to get to the outlet. I was impressed with some people who had all of their electronics plugged into a powerstrip, so when they go on vacation, all they need to do is unplug the strip and all of their devices will be disconnected from power. It seems like a very clever way to simplify unplugging electronics when you won't be using them for awhile.
Emily Menzel
I was pretty surprised to find that some rooms had 2 mini fridges !! that is insane to me, why do you need two mini fridges for two people? Also, a lot of people had a microwave even though in the kitchen ( one on each floor in the independent living buildings) have one. Another surprise was the range of watts different computers used, some seemed to use a lot more than others. There were also a lot of power strips being used, multiple in each room. The most surprising item was the hot water kettle, I am even to blame, mine used a little over 1400 watts! that is an insane amount, just to boil water.
The owners of the rooms I went to to test their watts used were very nice and let me unplug everything and test it out, no one really seemed annoyed which was relieving and very considerate of them.
Some things cannot be unplugged like the fridges, but other things can be unplugged, like the hot water heaters, cell phone chargers and even the TV and microwaves when not in use. That is the next step to this, getting people to unplug the appliances they are not using at that moment.
-Zoe Hoffman
I had a hard time with this because pretty much everyone's electrical outlets were behind heavy dressers and desks and drawers, so people were often reluctant to let me try to move stuff around. The residents seemed really hesitant to let me into their rooms and plug in all their appliances, which made me feel really intrusive. Like others have said, many people were embarrassed that they had so many appliances plugged in. Also, I'm pretty sure my Kilo-Watt was malfunctioning at times, because once I tried to measure the usage of this huge refrigerator and I'm positive that it said it was only 10 watts, which can't be right. A microwave should not use 100-200 times that energy. What I did find from the people who allowed me into their rooms, and when the kilo-watt was actually functioning, was that certain things such as water heaters/boilers use a lot more energy than I would have thought. I wonder how much energy a stove uses in comparison? It was interesting to note that even though we make a big fuss about computers and cell phone chargers, they used hardly any energy when on standby, and not that much when on, compared for instance to a blowdryer or a microwave. I was surprised to find that TV's don't use as much energy as I would have thought, again compared to things such as refrigerators and microwaves. Lot of people used power strips which was good and also facilitated my measuring. The amount of electronic appliances really varied suite by suite--for instance, some would have a fridge, a tv, a microwave, water heater, dvd player, lots of lights, playstation/other types of video game things, etc, while others might only have one refrigerator, or a microwave. As I said earlier, it was hard to come to too many concrete results, since I had so much trouble with measurement, but I definitely got a good general idea of people's energy consumption.
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When conducting the survey most people were very helpful. I expected to see more microwaves and hair dryers. Almost every room had a fridge, one double had two fridges. Some people seemed a little embarrassed when they listed all of their appliances. I was surprised when I did my own room. So many of the appliances I use I don't even think about, they are just "necessary". After this survey I began to be much more diligent about my electricity usage.
Abby Bentley
Well, the first thing that I noticed was that the Kill A Watt gave some weird readings. I believe all of the refrigerators we measured read 1 Watt, to name one surprise. But aside from the readings themselves, I was not surprised to see that some people have a LOT of appliances, which made the work take a long time. Most people used their appliances inefficiently by leaving them plugged in all day. But what was interesting was that the residents were generally conscious that they were using a lot of energy and that this was "bad." They expressed a fair amount of guilt, although Anya and I told them that they were not being judged. So I think this assignment was a wake-up call for some people, reminding them that their appliances really do use energy that has to come from somewhere. Hopefully they will try to be more efficient with their energy use.
Residents were all pretty outgoing and helpful with the room surveys; they were all amazed at the amount of watts just their room uses alone. Multiply the amount of watts used per room by the number of rooms there are, and that's a lot of Watt usage. Most residents keep unused electronics unplugged (i.e Printer) but most of the higher power-consuming items are left on.
-Brian S.
A lot of the students on my floor didn't even want to let me into their rooms to count their appliances, so I had to do some rough estimates from their doorways. I explained that I wasn't there to persecute them for potentially using a lot of energy, but rather to conduct a survey of how much energy my hall used, but they were reluctant to believe me. It was even more difficult because my Kill-A-Watt wasn't functioning properly. Something that I noticed was that many girls had hair dryers and straighteners, and most of the guys rooms had video game systems in them. The vast majority of students in my hall use power strips. Most of the students left their laptop and cell phone chargers plugged in all the time, and were unwilling to unplug other appliances because it's just inconvenient.
A lot of the students on my floor didn't even want to let me into their rooms to count their appliances, so I had to do some rough estimates from their doorways. I explained that I wasn't there to persecute them for potentially using a lot of energy, but rather to conduct a survey of how much energy my hall used, but they were reluctant to believe me. It was even more difficult because my Kill-A-Watt wasn't functioning properly. Something that I noticed was that many girls had hair dryers and straighteners, and most of the guys rooms had video game systems in them. The vast majority of students in my hall use power strips. Most of the students left their laptop and cell phone chargers plugged in all the time, and were unwilling to unplug other appliances because it's just inconvenient.
I noticed that things like my fridge and laptop draw quite a bit of energy, when on, in sleep and even when off, and I was a little amazed at that. I knew that it was the case that anything plugged in, on or off, uses some electricity, but seeing the actual numbers was still shocking.
I was a little disappointed to see that no one in my building was really willing to take the time to let me use the Kill-A-Watt on their rooms, because it meant that I didn't have all the quantifiable evidence that I was supposed to get, but I could understand that taking half an hour to forty-five minutes would be a hassle for them.
Also, I noticed that there is a pretty common trend to what rooms come equipped with at UVM. There were minor discrepancies, but the overall trend for the appliances in girls' rooms versus guys' rooms was actually interesting.
While doing the energy survey I found that most people did have a lot of appliances, but they were not plugged in or in use most of the time. A few rooms had a lot of energy sucking appliances, like 2 laptops, 1 desktop monitor, 2 tv's (one big and one smaller), and 1 or 2 mini fridges. Things like this were plugged in and in use most/all of the time, but majority of the rooms did unplug unused appliances. Some people were really interested in how energy was being used even though the appliances were off and how having your computer plugged in all the time as opposed to sleep used a lot more watts. I found that most people did use the CFL light bulbs so they were more energy efficient, but a lot of people also then had string lights. They seemed to be on more than the regular desk laps were and they used much more wattage.
I was very suprised at the amount of appliances that a lot of the triples had. In a crowded room of three residents, people still packed in 2 fridges. People were surprising excessive in the amount of electrical appliances they owned, not sharing hair dryers, microwaves, etc.
For the energy survey in Chitty (The Kill-a-Watt didn't work, so we couldn't show people how much energy was being used), I realized how much people leave plugged in. Only a couple rooms didn't have TV's, and one room had 2 TVs in one double! Every room had two laptops and two cell phone chargers and most had a minifridge and microwave. Almost every girl's room had string lights, while the guys did not have any. While I was not amazed or surprised by the number of things plugged in to the walls in each room, it definitely was a reminder to the number of things that are left plugged in that could be left unplugged while not in use, as well as the number of things that could be shared that are not, like tvs or microwaves.
-Laura D.
Our Kill-a-Watt meter didn't work so we just tallied up all the appliances in each room and it was really astonishing. Most rooms that we surveyed were double, but there were a few singles in there. All the doubled rooms had two cell phone charges, two lap tops, most had two printers and two desk lamps. It was interesting to see the amount of electronics that were plugged in all the time. It was however nice to see all the energy efficient light bulbs from the bulb swap earlier. Everyone also used power strips, so I believe the next task would be to ask everyone to unplug their power strips when they left the room. That way it would be easy to have all their smaller appliances attached to one thing and a very easy way to reduce energy consumption. I do this and it is very easy. I hope I can encourage my residents to do this as well.
-Genna
I never realized how many things a single person needs to have plugged in! On average, people had around 10 "big" things plugged in in their rooms, this not including hair tools, phone chargers or clip lamps. Almost no one I talked to in Wilks unplugs items from the power source when not in use, but also most people weren't aware that "standby mode" uses energy.
I found that the residents that we surveyed knew if they used a lot of energy or not. Many of the residents seemed either defensive or felt guilty before we even began to survey them. I also learned that it makes a huge difference whether the electronic device is on or not. Zach and I kept getting vastly different answers and we realized after a few more that some items were on and some were off, so we didn't exactly know if we should turn them on when testing them. Overall though, most residents knew that unplugging items that weren't being used was a good thing to get in the habit of. I just they hope they put it into use.
-Anya RIfkin
A lot of the residents were very surprised by the amount of energy small appliances like hair dryings, cell hpone chargers, and string lights used. They assumed appliances like the firdge and microwave were big spenders, but not the tiny ones! A lot of the residents didnb't even know that chargers still use up engergy even if they aren't being used. Everyone was very supporive in the Inventory because they too were curious to see their energy use. I think it opened a lot of eyes of my residents.
Sadly, our kill-a-watt meter wasn't properly working, so we couldn't actually get read outs of the energy being used in residents rooms, and we were left to count appliances which were plugged in. However, just by going around and asking residents, some said right off the bat that we don't want to test them, "we really use way too much electricity in the room". So while we weren't actually able to tell students the exact amount of energy being used, we were able to simply raise awareness about energy and appliances. Hopefully, students will accept some of our advice, such as unplugging unused appliances, and still be able to learn from us going door to door.
-Jon
I was very surprised at how much energy microwaves use. The most powerful one i found was using 1600 watts, which is more than mini fridges. Most rooms had microwaves, and considering how much food college kids cook using microwaves, that is a lot of energy being used from just one appliance.
Brooks
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