Energy Research Project

I conducted an energy research project on conserving energy in a natural disaster. I focused my conservation efforts to major appliances to compare use prior to and during the disaster to see if limiting the use of such appliances would effectively lower my bill. To conduct this, I researched the amount of energy that I used prior to the natural disaster and the the amount of energy used during conversation. I also researched the amount of kilowatt hours each of the appliances used and the average hours such appliances were used. Finally, using information from AEL&P I found the average percentages of appliances on electric bills, how many customers they served, and the average amount spent on electricity annually.


DATA: In 2007, my average kwh usage per day was 43. My goal was to get this below 30 kwh daily. When I looked at certain appliances, their kwh used, and my average usage, I found that I was about to see a monthly increase of $167 based on my current trends. I took action:

• I set my refrigerator to energy conservation settings,
• I did not use my clothes dryer at all, and
• Use of my oven and dishwasher was extremely limited.

These measures effectively lowered my average daily usage in the month of May to only 24 average kwh daily, a reduction of 44% from the previous year.

I then compared the disaster month, May 2008, directly to May 2007. I found that my usage in 2007 was 995 as compared to 878 in 2008 of the same month, a 12% decrease.

THE BIG PICTURE: Taking this information and looking at the city of Juneau, AEL&P customers consume 293 million Kwh annually. If their 14,500 customers conserved only 15%, that would be nearly 44 million Kwh saved annually. Based on 2008 current rates, that is a savings to AEL&P customers of $4,620,000.

Through this research project I learned that limiting or cutting out heavy weight appliance effectively lowered my bill and energy usage in an electrical crisis by 12-33%. I also found that some conservation efforts that I employed were not sustainable. Recently and energy efficiency audit was conducted on my home and I found I can effectively conserve the same amount of energy or more by replacing a few doors and windows.

WANT TO SEE MORE ON THIS PROJECT? Here is my powerpoint that I presented. Here is my excel spreadsheet with data and where I created visual graphs.

Watching the DVD that was recorded of my live presentation, I learned that I am a clear and organized speaker without any major quirks. I did observe that my hair seemed to be tossed frequently and that I tended to look toward the left side of the room more than the right. I've been focusing on these two items in my daily classroom and making conscious efforts to reduce hair distractions and be equitable in looking at all of my students.