| This is rather ironic, since there are embedded emissions in all manufactured products. However, with careful use and maintenance, they should last a long time.
The daily electricity and gas consumption I was personally responsible for at home dropped fairly significantly (approximate figures) :-
| Natural Gas use per day (Btu) | Electricity use per day (kWh) | | January 2011 | 5.00 | 3.00 | | February 2011 | 4.21 | 2.94 | | March 2011 | 3.65 | 3.15 | | April 2011 | 1.93 | 3.11 | | May 2011 | 1.69 | 2.98 | | June 2011 | 1.60 | 2.95 | | July 2011 | 1.42 | 2.84 | | August 2011 | 1.26 | 2.82 | | September 2011 | 1.14 | 2.81 | | October 2011 | 1.04 | 2.76 | | November 2011 | 1.07 | 2.84 | | December 2011 | 1.18 | 2.83 |
Based on the average of the monthly daily averages, I should have consumed 766 Btu (8,094 kWh) of Natural Gas over the whole year, and 1,065 kWh of electricity for 2011. However, due to dropping demand, I actually used only 433 Btu (4,572 kWh) of Natural Gas and 1,034 kWh of electricity.
This compares to Ofgem’s analysis of medium household consumption figures of 16,500 kWh of Natural Gas and 3,300 kWh of electricity.
This puts my consumption at 28% of the medium in Natural Gas and 31% in electricity. It’s going to be hard to reduce both of these figures.
I came up with a number of personal solutions for reducing space heating in 2011, which enabled the use of Natural Gas to drop.
I had already come up with a number of changes in power consumption in 2010, which explains why the electricity use did not drop so fast or so far in 2011.
However, I’m still working on cutting my domestic power consumption.
One of those ways is trying to adopt a more vegetarian diet. You see, when you eat vegan or virtually vegan, you don’t need so much refrigeration. Frequently over the last year the only things in the fridge have been milk, spread, yoghurt and green vegetables (plus a couple of half-used jars of pesto or mayonnaise, the regulation bottle of lemon juice and a jar of Marmite). The freezer has been off for months.
So I thought to myself, after checking the power consumption of the fridge – does the house need a smaller fridge ? I mean, the large fridge is useful when there are guests or someone throws a party, but it’s not fully used all the time. I could keep the green vegetables in the coldest, unheated room of the house, and buy fresh more regularly. What if I get hold of a mini fridge to use on a day-to-day basis ? And so, into my life has come the Mobicool W35.
Technically, it’s not a refrigerator – it’s a “cooler box”. A thermolectric one. And despite the E energy rating on the packaging – at 290 kWh a year, it will have less than half the power consumption of the Big Fridge. Plus, since I don’t need to run it all the time, I can cut power use further by only having it on 18 hours a day (or less, as dictated by the weather), controlled by a timer.
The next adaptations to my energy use will entail significant expense. Here are some options :-
a. Upgrading the windows
b. Installing a biomass burner (and optionally a boiler)
c. Cladding the external walls
I will need to save up to replace the windows completely, so I am looking for intermediate solutions.
For the biomass option, I have found a tree surgeon in North East London with whom a win-win arrangement could be developed – with me offering to take unseasoned wood from the loads of sawn waste that otherwise would cost money to dispose of.
In the meantime, I need to address draughtproofing. The sudden cold spell has shown me that there are still opportunities in this regard.
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