SLC32-W1 || Real Life Problem Solving Challenge: Save Electricity At Home

Greetings to all Steemians and everyone in the Steem for Pakistan community!

I want to start by saying electricity is a topic that every Nigerian person have strong feelings about, haha. Whether NEPA(National Electric Power Authority) is taking light at the worst possible time or the bill just jumped up from nowhere, we have all been in that situation. This challenge made me sit down and properly think about what I am actually doing at home and what I can change.

^{All images were taken with my device}

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Two appliances in my home that use the most electricity

The Fridge

Mine is a medium size fridge that has been sitting in this house for years now. Honestly I never used to give it serious thought, it just stand there doing its thing in the corner. But when I started paying closer attention to how fast my prepaid meter was finishing every week, the fridge kept showing up as the main reason.

The thing about a fridge is it never actually rest. Every house in my area runs theirs on generator during NEPA blackout, and if you listen carefully you can actually hear when the motor start working harder. Hot weather makes it worse. When outside temperature rises the fridge is now fighting extra hard to keep things cold inside, and that mean more power being pulled than usual.

I noticed that on days when my siblings are around and people are going in and out of the fridge every few minutes, my meter units drops faster than normal days. That observation alone was enough evidence for me.

My Extension Board

This second one I doubt many people think about seriously. I have one extension socket in my room with about five or six slots. Normally my phone charger is there, power bank charger, small standing fan sometimes, reading lamp. Most of the time at least three of those things are plugged in even when nothing is actually charging or being used.

I never paid attention to this until my cousin told me once that chargers keep drawing small current from the wall even when your device is not even connected to them. I honestly did not believe him at first. But I tested it, started pulling out chargers I was not using and watched my meter over a few days, and he was right. The difference was small but it was definitely there.

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Two methods I use to reduce consumption

Method one — Everything not in use comes out of the wall

I know it sound like too basic a thing to actually work but this habit changed something real for me. Any charger or appliance I am not actively using at that moment, I pull it out of the wall completely. Just switching off is not enough for me anymore, because even switched off things can still be drawing current when they are still plugged in.

Every night before I sleep I do a quick check around the room. Charger still in the socket? Out. Fan plugged in but the night is cool? Out. Laptop adapter left behind after charging finished? Out. The whole round takes under two minutes and now my hand just reach for plugs without me even consciously deciding to do it, it has become part of how I move in my own room.

Method two — Iron everything for the week on one day

My mother actually taught me this one and I ignored it for years before I finally tried it. Instead of ironing one shirt Monday morning, another on Tuesday, doing that everyday until the week ends, I now just set aside Sunday evening and iron everything I will need for all seven days at once.

The reason this saves power is that electric iron uses the most electricity right at the beginning when it is heating up from cold. Once it reaches temperature, the consumption drop a little.

So if you are heating it from cold six separate times in one week for one cloth each time, you are paying that expensive startup cost six times over. Do everything in one session, you pay it once and maintain from there. Once I understood that properly I never went back to the old way.

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Has my electricity bill actually gone down?

Yes, and I have been watching this carefully since I changed my habits.

Being on prepaid meter means I can track this in real time. I buy units upfront and before I started all this I was finishing units noticeably faster. These days the same amount of money lasts me longer than it used to. That is the clearest way I can explain it.

Where I felt the difference even more is on the generator side. Fuel is not cheap at all right now and the generator runs most days when NEPA is not supplying. When the fridge motor, multiple chargers and the electric iron are all pulling power at the same time, the generator strains and burns fuel faster.

Since I started unplugging things I am not using and spreading out heavy appliance use, the fuel lasts a little longer per day. Over a whole month that fuel saving adds up to real money.

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What is the easiest saving habit for me personally

Disconnecting chargers the moment I am done with them. That one requires nothing, no money to spend, nothing to buy or install anywhere. Just your hand and the plug.

What helped me turn it from a once in a while thing to a real habit was attaching it to something I was already doing anyway. Before I check my phone at night, I walk the room first. Those two things are now connected in my head and one automatically triggers the other. That small connection is why it stuck when other things I tried before did not.

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What advice would I give to other people

First just start by noticing. Before you try to change anything spend one week paying real attention to what is always plugged in around you. Some people will find chargers from devices they haven't touched in months still sitting in the wall drawing current every single day.

Second bring the people you live with into it. You can be the most careful person in the house but if everyone else is leaving everything running all day your individual effort only go so far. Make it a house conversation not just a personal one.

Third, for my fellow Nigerians especially, think about your generator as part of your electricity cost. People here often only talk about NEPA bill but fuel for generator is electricity cost too. Every appliance pulling extra load on the generator is money leaving your pocket for fuel. Treat both the same way.

And last, start before things get bad. Good habits are much easier to build when there is no pressure on you. Start small, stay consistent, give it a few months and you will see something different.

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Thank you to @ahsansharif and everyone at Steem for Pakistan for putting this together. This week genuinely made me realize there is still more I can do at home. Really looking forward to reading what others are doing too!

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I will invite my friends to join the contest...
@imohmitch
@sampson01
@us-andrew

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