26/06/2012
Today, DECC, Defra and the Energy Saving Trust published their research titled “Powering the Nation”. It is the largest study of its kind that looks at energy consumption habits in the home. The study examined 251 homes in total, with 26 examined throughout the entire year and the remaining 225 monitored for a month at a time on a rolling basis. Although not statistically representative, the study ensured a good representative spread of socio-demographic types.
A key finding from the report as quoted by one of the report authors, Dr Paula Owen in the web broadcast, was that “refrigeration is the single most energy consuming product in the home” (outside of electrical heating). This is a very important point for Voltage Optimisation providers because this is also the class of appliance that can benefit most from being supplied with an optimal, reduced level of voltage compared to the typically high UK supply of 245V.
A further pertinent fact is that the study observed a night time base load of 200 watts. As the report stated with regard to refrigeration, “due to their nature, they are essentially ‘on’ 24/7 of their lifetime”, so whilst kettles, for example, may have a higher peak load, it’s also a short burst of demand that can often be just a minute or two in duration. This residual base load, along with appliances and lighting that are on for sustained periods of time, contribute the most to household electricity bills.
One of the more surprising findings to come out of the study explained how 20% of our electricity consumption has been attributed to keeping appliances on standby. Again, this constant load is a steady drain on resources, but it also represents a great opportunity for Voltage Optimisation to impact on energy bills. Addressing these steady loads by ensuring that even if they are drawing power, they’re drawing a reduced level and therefore costing less in the process.
Voltage Optimisation from VPhase is proven technology that has been robustly tested and shown to save up to 12% off annual electricity bills in independently verified tests. Importantly, installing the low cost VPhase device requires minimal disruption and it not only requires no user intervention, change in lifestyle or behaviour, but it’s also completely maintenance free too – meaning that it starts saving immediately upon installation and works 24/7 to optimise the power provided to the home.
The full report can be downloaded from the Defra web site,
HERE or a summary report is available from the Energy Saving Trust’s web site,
HERE