Why and how to save electricity

One of the major concerns of the world is to save electricity for us and for our upcoming generations. We should use our limited resources very usefully.

Most of the countries are lacking in supply of electricity. Many countries have not enough resources to keep their house lighten up and constant supply of electricity for their industries.

Countries like Pakistan is fighting for its survival and the toughest challenge in Pakistan is to keep up the constant supply of electricity.

People are closing their industries due to lack of electricity. Government is taking many steps to provide electricity to its consumers but it's a very big challenge for them. People are investing less in production industries.

In 2018 shortfall of electricity in Pakistan was 6000MW. Countries like U.S has generated 4178 billion-kilowatt hour electricity about 63 percent of this was generated by fossil fuels.

Figure 1 electricity growth per year in United states

U.S is enhancing its power generation capacity each year and to save environment 64 percent of its project is based on renewable energy.

Now you understand the demand of electricity and why it is so important about saving electricity that you would hear it often in news, seminars and on other places about saving electricity or would see sign board like this everywhere.

Figure 2 save energy sign board

To further understand the importance of electricity, we must know about the electricity its history and purpose.

One of the greatest inventions in mankind history was the invention of the electricity. It is usually said that Ben Franklin 1^st discovered the electricity.

Now thousands of companies are working on electricity and thousands of industries are generating electricity and selling it in the market.

Many industries have their small power plant like steam power plant, gas power plant or solar panels for home use. Most of electricity is produce from fossil fuel which damages our planet

So, what is electricity?

Basically, electricity is the flow of electrons (small particles of an atom) due to the change in potential difference across the conductor.

Figure 3 structure of an atom containing electron, Proton and Neutron

But how electricity is helping us in daily life?

Electricity make us like much easier than before After the invention of light bulb by Thomas Edison the electricity became more and more popular. Now-a-days everyone or every single device on the earth is somehow connected to the electricity like

· Laptops

· Mobile phones

· Television

· Fan/ AC conditioner

· Water pumps

· Machines (juicer machine, sandwich making machine etc.)

So, what is the problem with electricity?

With increase in the number of populations the demand of the electricity is increasing. In twentieth century were inventions are taking place rapidly and people are becoming more and more dependent on electrical appliances.

With the inventions of automatic system. Electronic security firms and other major field of electricity it is highly demanded. Even one second of short fall of electricity is not bearable.

Why saves electricity?

With the increase in the demand of electricity it is getting difficult for people to fulfill such huge demand. The other thing that affects is the cost of the electricity if you use more you must pay more.

As you should know most of the electricity is generated from fossil fuels in the world so it causes a lot of pollution in the environment.

Brief overview of Increasing demand of electricity:

Global electricity demand is increasing worldwide very fast. Many people are investing and studying the increasing energy demand of the people.

According to the Bloomberg report there is a huge energy demand in 2050. This will reach up to 38700 terawatts from 25000 tera-watts in 2017.

With the development of emerging countries like Africa, Middle east and South east Asia and increasing population could double the demand. Electricity demand will increase up to 57% in 2050.

In 2018 energy there is rose of 4% in electricity demand. And 2.5% rise in CO₂ globally. China and United states are one of the largest power supply market in energy sector.

There is 8 % increase in electricity demand in electricity. There is increase in electricity demand up to 39% from 1990 to 2009 with increase of 1.7% per year.

Advantages of saving electricity:

Electricity is one of the most important things we use daily without noticing its importance and wastage.

· Saving electricity will save your money.

· Less energy consumption means less fuel is burn so it will make climate clean.

· Low energy consumptions make governments to invest less in energy sector.

· It avoids shortage of electricity in poor areas

· It reduces the overall cost and demand of electricity and saves a lot of fuel

· Using electricity with care is also safe for each of us. Electricity is dangerous for people proper insulation should be use.

· Fiberglass meter box should be used in the main supply to avoid any short circuit.

Figure 4 increasing demand of electricity from 1949 to 2009

Sources of electricity:

There are many different sources of electricity from which we can obtain electricity some of them are listed below:

· Energy from fossil fuels which creates a lot of pollution in the environment. Which consist of steam turbine, gas turbines, & I.C engines

· There are some other resources like hydraulic dams which converts hydraulic energy into electrical energy it is a big and reliable source of energy.

· Wind energy or wind turbines are also used to produce electricity.

· Solar energy could be a source of electricity which is more popular then wind energy.

· Nuclear reactors are also a big source of energy where fusion reactions are controlled to create a huge amount of electricity.

· Bio mass in getting place in market for producing electricity for the people.

Figure 5U.S electric production percentage from different sources

Transmission of electricity:

There is one of most important things about electricity that is distribution of electricity. Electricity in the homes are provided by transmission line which consist of many components like

Transformer, cables, Generators, Grid station.

There are also some devices which are used in the home to distribute electricity which consist of Main switch, switch boxes. Some appliances are used to keep them safe like fiberglass meter & FRP junction boxes.

Fiberglass meter box:

Fiberglass meter boxes are must be used instead on metal boxes due to many advantages such as

· They are waterproof and saves your main from water.

· They are less corrosion or corrosion free.

· Cheaper than old metal box

· Fiberglass meter box can work up to 30 to 40 years

· Give better insulation than the old metal boxes.

· Easy to fix and come with sealings.

Figure 6 fiberglass meter box

There is a very huge amount of cables and connection which can be seen in the streets or other places. Cable caring electricity should be well insulated as electricity is much dangerous for people.

Fiberglass junction box:

It is a square box usually installed in house building and, in many places, to keep the cables safe for the house.

fiberglass junction boxes are made of many materials but now a day's fiber junction boxes are mostly used due to their reliability and waterproof and less corrosion properties.

They also save wire for catching fire. Junction boxes could be insulated if there are installed in the open place where people can easily touch them or reach them.

Figure 7Fiberglass junction box

Now we will consider the saving of electricity from being waste here we represent the idea of saving electricity by comparing the life style of two persons who are neighbor and has same sort of life style.

One person is living a happy life due to electricity savings and other is a bit worried about his life because he doesn't know the benefits and ways of saving the electricity and thus saving money.

Case study:

Here are two guys John and Sia. Both have equal amount of income of 2000$ and same life style but Sia is living a happy life than John. John is often surprised to watch Sia buying new thing and was wonder why he is not able to live a good life like her

One day he decided to ask Sia about the top-secret that how she saves a lot of money than John. He went to Sia apartment and ask her how she save such a huge amount of money annually.

1^st time Sia was not able to figure it out that what was the problem with John. Next day Sia decided to go into John apartment when Sia enters the John apartment she suddenly understood the problem, she saw improper wiring, more lightening than require, all the appliances were on, there was not proper schedule of John to save any electricity. Then Sia start talking to John in surprised and loud tone what are you doing?

John was also got surprised by Sia tone he asked her, what was wrong with her!

Sia told him that he is miss using the electricity which he could save and could make more money than before.

John was surprised by Sia, he laughs loudly and said how much all this cost. It cost nothing worth I am doing this my whole life, and nothing happened to me.

Sia told the John that she saves a lot of money from electricity bill. She told him if he uses the electricity properly, he could save a huge amount annually and can enjoy a good trip anything else he wants.

John get surprised and asked Sia how could he save electricity?

Sia told him a few things how he can save electricity by following these simple rules.

How to safe electricity:

Proper wiring

Use proper wiring in the house. Improper wiring offers more resistance to the flow of current of and more energy dissipation which cause high energy consumption. Proper or good wiring also help save electricity.

Lightening:

Only use those lights which are necessary and close all other lights of the house. Don't use extra lights if not necessary. Incandescent bulbs consume a lot of electricity.

Lights should be turned of during the sleep time or a small zero-watt bulb could be used if necessary. These bulbs consume very less amount of energy.

For study purpose a small table lamp could be used. Which is a good practice for people rather than lighting a full room just focus on book.

Insulation of house:

The other way of keeping your electricity bill low is the use of proper insulation of your doors, windows and walls. Insulation plays an important role in reducing cooling and heating loads of the houses.

A lot of cooling or heating is losses through doors and windows a lot of energy is require filling these losses which can be save.

The insulations also keep the house safe, warmer in winter and cool in summer. A person can save up to 600 dollars per year by using insulations.

Figure 8 walls insulation for saving energy

Scheduling:

Make schedule of your habits, turn light on and off in proper time. Don't use extra lights at time by making schedules you can save a lot of cost in the electricity bill.

It also helps you to remain fit and calm. Scheduling is a great habit of leaders. Use sunlight properly. Sun is a great source of light and energy. Rising up early in the morning can save a lot of electricity and gives you precious time.

Avoid extra use of appliances:

You can use alternative ways for saving electricity like you can hang your cloth in air instead of using dryer. You can use turn of Extra T.V, electronic games, or other such devices which are usually on in the house.

Most of the time people want to keep their atoms alive they don't want to turn them of no matter if they are in use or not. Such things could be harmful physically and use a lot of electricity.

Modern energy saving tools;

Saving energy could be possible by using modern tools like Smart power strips and programmable thermostats in the home.

Use of LED bulbs in place of incandescent bulbs. An LED bulb can last longer 10 times than regular bulb. New boilers are also used now a day which work on solar or gas and save electricity.

Building design:

Building design affects the energy consumptions a lot your windows must be designed in such a way that is doesn't trap any light during the day time and use should use sunlight for most of your work

Building architect is one of the major concerns as building design could be like that only one bulb can enlighten you whole house use of mirrors and such thing can make your house decorative and less energy consuming.

Figure 9 comparison of different light bulbs

Remove charger:

Remove charger from the socket after charging your mobile or laptops. Don't plug to many appliances in just one socket.

Placing charger for long time in socket or overcharging the appliance could be dangerous or may be over charging damage your device. Some devices are case sensitive that act on overcharging.

Low energy consumption device:

You can choose low electricity devices from the market which saves electricity improper or cheap products consume more energy and cost you a lot more than you expected.

Examples of low energy devices are:

· Toilet water savor

· ECO kettle

· Night lights

· Electricity Monitor

If we use low energy consumption devices or devices that takes energy from other sources like solar should be used.

Solar chargers, Solar water heating systems saves a lot of electricity consumption now the market is also moving toward the green energy or those energy sources that are  readily and easily available

Figure 10 phone charger using energy of your coffee to charge your phone

Checking your appliances before leaving:

Before leaving the house check out all the electrical appliance are turned off and no extra appliance or lights are on.

People mostly don't consider for the small appliances like phone charger, laptop charger. They assume that they should always be plugged in, but it is totally wrong concept.

Work during day light:

You should work in the day light instead of working in nights. In day time we have more solar energy or solar light, so we don't require much lights in day time.

Keeping things done in the light saves thousands of watts of electricity. If population start working at 6 am early in the morning and end the day at 4 pm or 5pm it would save a lot of electricity in the planet.

Solar systems:

You should buy more products that work on solar energy like solar water heater which heats water with the help of solar light.

Solar systems are adopted widely over the world. The scientist and other people come to relies that sun is a great source of energy. Now a day's government making polices which help the green house building concepts.

Solar water heaters, solar panels and other solar systems are being employed to reduce electricity consumptions. Sun emits enough energy each day that could be used up to many years.

Figure 11 solar water heater

Now John has understood the process of saving electricity, but he is a bit confuse if there are more advantages of saving electricity rather than just saving it for only money.

Sia told him that there are some also other advantages of saving electricity and make him relies that by bring some changes into house hold objects and keeping things on schedule he can save a lot of energy.

After hearing this conversation, he relies that if every individual keeps these things in mind and act to save energy there could be a better world.

John decided to take an action to save electricity not for himself but for others also. He thinks that he should also tell his friends about his new discovery about electricity how his friend could help him in saving the earth.

Summary:

To save electricity different companies and governments are working together. People are inventing and focusing on the devices which could be helpful in saving the energy.

We waste a lot of energy in a way which could be saved. For example, a double pane window can reduce your cooling and heating loads of you house.

Green energy projects also come with some sort of tax relaxation which helps save in energy and bills. One of major consumer of electricity are domestic people.

The advancement in the solar field is hot topic now a day's people are trying to use solar energy more and more there is a huge market of solar products which sale solar water heater etc.

Reliable product like fiberglass meter box or FRP junctions should be used to avoid accidents in the houses

Green house building technology make use of the thing that could save electricity the green houses are well insulated their building design is good. Double pane windows are used. They use less energy in heating and cooling the homes.

Green houses make use of solar power they are often installed with solar panel or solar water heaters. But they have high building cost.

Due to the lack in the advancement in renewable technology and its high cost people are using conventional resources. But in poor countries it is quite difficult for them to use both sources.

Poor countries are trying to build their resources as far as they can go in this field. Some of the countries are buying electricity from their neighbor countries which have resource like dams and rivers.

People should think about before using these resources. We should be conscious of our habits. Germany and other countries like Switzerland are realizing this and they are using renewable resource rather than conventional resources.

The educated people countries and societies are taking a lot of interest in saving electricity and saving this world.

Green technology is one of the most beneficial technology in saving energy and creating energy from different resources.