A brief overview of measuring domestic energy use and loss at home. Covers metering and bills, smart energy monitors and thermal imaging.

1. Energy Monitoring
How To Measure Your Energy Use At Home
Adam Trickett
adam.trickett@iredale.net
www.iredale.net
Copyright 2011, distributed under a creative commons
“Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share-Alike Licence”
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2. Quick Overview
● Story
● Meters and bills
● Energy Monitors
● Thermal Imaging
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3. A Story
● In spring 2010 we moved into our house
● We had the same energy company and tariff as
the previous owner
● We have NOT replaced the boiler, the windows
or done anything radical to the house yet
● We paid the same monthly direct debit as the
previous owner
● How different was our annual bill?
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4. LOTS!
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5. In One Year...
● Monthly direct Debit went from £160 to £49
● Rebate of £696
● They overestimated our gas and electricity by
about £100 per month
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6. What We Did
● Turn central heating boiler thermostat down
● Shortened central heating run time a little
● Replaced all old light-bulbs with modern ones
● Fitted roller blinds behind some curtains
● Fitted draft excluding tape to some leaky doors
and windows
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7. 08/10/11 Home Energy Event

8. Easy Energy
Monitoring
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9. Bill and Meter
● Check your meter once a month and send
reading to power company
● Look at the KWh on your bill is it above or below
average
● Easy to do you – you only need pencil and
paper!
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10. UK Averages
Number of Bedrooms Gas Usage (KWh) Electricity Usage (KWh)
1 10 000 2 500
2 15 000 4 000
3 25 000 5 500
4 29 000 6 000
5 or more 2 500 per extra bedroom 250 per extra bedroom
My reading (3½ bed) 12 058 2 409
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11. Smart Energy
Monitoring
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12. Energy Monitor
● Current Cost
● OWL
● B&DBC have some to lend
● 1 in the library
● Power companies give them away
● You can buy one for under £50
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13. Energy Monitors
● Gives you
instantaneous
electricity use
● Helps calculate base
load
● Helps find odd
devices
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14. 08/10/11 Home Energy Event

15. Thermal
Imaging
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16. Theory
● Everything radiates infra-red or thermal energy
● The temperature of an object gives you
radiation of a specific frequency
● A thermal imaging camera converts these
frequencies back into temperatures
● The temperatures are displayed as different
false colours on the display
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17. Inside of a House
● Walls and windows
should show up
warm
● Cold spots means you
have leaking heat
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18. Just a Window
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19. Front
Door
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20. Just a Blind
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21. Gap in Curtains
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22. Curtains and Blind
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23. Outside of a House
● The house should
show up like its
surrounding: cold
● Hot spots mean you
have leaking heat
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24. Window and Blind
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25. Front of House
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26. What use is it?
● Should tell you nothing new,
but often reveals things you didn't know
● Useful to find where you need to target first
● Can help identify gunked up radiators
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27. Camera
● Fluke Ti10
● BDBC own it
● We can survey your house if you want
● Sign up tonight
● we have the camera for the next fortnight
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28. Thank You
Any
Questions?
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