How to save electricity: useful tips to save the power grid

Ukraine’s energy system is going through difficult times, so high-energy efficiency of appliances is becoming a priority, as is the responsibility of people themselves. That is why we have prepared useful tips on how to save energy, what appliances to choose, what to look for, and how to reduce energy consumption without financial costs.

Lighting

If you still have dying incandescent bulbs in your home, it’s time to replace them with LEDs. The difference in power consumption can be tenfold, as classic tungsten spiral lamps require 40, 60, 100, 120 watts, while industrial lamps consume up to 0.5 kW per hour.

Make sure you have LED lighting everywhere in your home: table lamps, kitchen hoods, decorative lamps built into the ceiling, lighting outside, in the entrance, etc.

Let’s calculate the approximate savings that can be made using this method. Let’s assume that six 100-watt lamps work for eight hours a day. We get 6*100*8 = 4800 W, or 4.8 kWh. With LED lamps it will be approximately 0.5 kW, i.e. 10 times less. Daily savings under such spherical conditions are as follows 4300 W per house.

Of course, we can argue that not everyone uses light that much, but let’s also consider commercial needs (shops, restaurants, street lighting, factories, plants, etc.), so in fact, switching to LED will save even more.

Specialized incandescent lamps make sense only in old-style incubators. Or on private farms as a heating element for poultry or young mammals raised in the cold season, and they have outlived their usefulness for home use.

Computers

Desktop PCs are also long overdue for a rest, according to ecoactivists and those who have switched to powerful laptops. Of course, laptops offer much higher energy efficiency, but let’s look at ways to save money for classic computer lovers.

First of all, the power supply and its efficiency are important. The best power supplies are capable of providing 95+% efficiency when operating at 50% of their capacity. Namely, at half load, the power supply has the lowest losses. So ideally, it should be twice as powerful as a typical PC under heavy load, such as gaming.

Allow me to explain with my own example. My PC has a kilowatt power supply MSI MPG PCIE5 A1000G. Its maximum power is 1000 watts. The computer is based on an AMD Ryzen 9 7900 processor (quite economical) and a video card AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX (completely uneconomical).

You can easily calculate the power consumption of a PC without any calculators using the following principle: add the TDP of the video card and processor (base), and add another 30-60 watts on top. The latter depends on the motherboard, case fans, RGB backlighting, and the number of drives. Top-end motherboards always take more power, especially AMD AM5.

Monitors with IPS matrices are the most economical, as they consume half the power of popular VA monitors. For example, the budget Gigabyte GS27F in the «eco» mode consumes only 8 watts! A similar VA monitor will require 15+ watts, or even more.

Ukraine’s power system will be grateful for such types of computer equipment:

• Mini PCs based on laptop components;
• Laptops of all classes and types, especially those with ARM processors;
• Monoblocks based on laptop components;
• IPS monitors with a high level of energy efficiency;
• Game consoles, especially portable ones;

But the power grid will not be grateful for powerful gaming PCs and workstations, especially old ones. It’s hard to say, but the time of classic x86 computers is over, and we get a low impact on the grid only due to the tiny number of active users of high-end PCs.

To understand the whole situation, let’s look at two scenarios with Yevdokim and his older brother Ostap:

Thus, the difference between such users is 3500 W every day. A thousand users and a difference 3.5 MW, and a million subscribers in a similar scenario allows you to save 3.5 GW of energy every day.

Household appliances

With non-digital appliances, it’s a bit more complicated, because you can’t save on everything. You need a washing machine, a boiler, and it’s not easy to clean without a vacuum cleaner (but it is possible). The main thing here is to pay attention to the class energy efficiency.

There are a total of three types:

• A+++
• A++
• A+
• A
• B
• C
• D
• E
• F
• G

Usually, equipment with A+++, A++, A+ is quite expensive, because it uses top components and more advanced algorithms. On the other hand, this will allow you to save money in the long run according to the principle «more you use – more you save».

What you can do without in difficult times for the power system:

• Dishwasher. Washing dishes with a good detergent is not difficult at all, unless you’re afraid for your new manicure. A dishwasher is just a comfort zone, but not a necessity;
• Electric grill. Life isn’t all about flattened sandwiches with toasted bread, because you can do just as well on a gas griddle if you want;
• Vacuum cleaner. There is nothing better than wet cleaning and freshness afterwards. You don’t need to use a powerful 2 kW monster every day, but you can use it to mop the floor;
• Dryer. The best dryer in the world costs 30 hryvnias and is powered by solar energy, and is called «lace». In summer weather, it’s a sin not to hang your laundry outside, or at least on the balcony;
• Electric kettle. This energy guzzler can easily be replaced with a classic kettle heated by gas. As long as there are no problems with gas in Ukraine, we put electric kettles in the closet;
• Air conditioning in every room. This is a very important thing that is difficult to refuse, but it will be good if there is only one air conditioner (energy efficient), not several for the whole house.

Smart sockets

A timer socket will not only pay for itself quickly, but will also reduce the load on our country’s energy system. A smart socket can turn the power on/off according to a schedule that can be customized knowing the order of outages.

With a smart socket, the boiler will be turned on at 4 p.m., it will heat the water in an hour, and at 5:20 p.m. the sweaty owner will return and immediately take a shower. This way, you can save a small amount of energy, but «a penny saves a dollar».

In difficult times, the massive use of such devices will make life easier for the entire energy system. Let’s say a smart socket saves 200-300 watts of energy for each home every day, and for a million homes this means 0.3 GW.

If all users in Ukraine had these sockets, we could save 3, 4, and possibly even 10 GW daily. It is difficult to estimate the scale accurately, because in addition to a smart outlet, you also need a smart owner who will set it up correctly, according to the schedule.

Alternative energy

Ukraine’s energy system is infinitely grateful to those who have solar panels or wind generators, although there are still few such people. Alternative energy sources allow not only to provide for themselves, but also to supply energy to the system for others, thus helping power plants.

What if there are more solar panels, for example, in every second house? What if local corrupt officials stopped stealing and installed wind turbines near every city? Alternative energy can actually cover a significant electricity deficit, but so far, this industry is too poorly developed in Ukraine.

If you have the financial means, space for installation, and a desire to make a profitable investment, solar panels are a great choice. Of course, in addition to the panels themselves, you will have to spend a lot of money on batteries and power equipment, but it will pay for itself. Electricity is not going to get cheaper, so it is a smart investment.

Conclusions

If you add up all of these saving methods and multiply them by the entire population of Ukraine, you can significantly reduce energy consumption. Each time a person saves 1000, 500, 100, or even 50 watts, this energy can be used in hospitals with seriously ill patients, bakeries that bake fresh bread every morning to deliver to stores. Industry that keeps the country’s economy going, and military plants that are so important for victory.

We need to save together, and then the result will be noticeable for the entire energy system. And we should not wait for our neighbors to turn off the air conditioner or change the light bulbs to energy-efficient ones because we should always start with ourselves, setting an example for others.