Energy Conservation Testing Around Campus (By Audrey Dwyer, Environmental Sciences Instructor)

In Environmental Science classes, students have been investigating the school's wasted electricity use by testing devices for phantom loads. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, 10% of the average home's electricity usage is wasted by phantom loads.  Phantom loads are electronic devices that use electricity while the appliance is not actively being used. Just having these devices plugged in (but off or on standby mode) uses power. Therefore, we can save energy, save money on our electricity bill, and reduce our contribution to air pollution and climate change by unplugging these phantom load devices when not in use. The first step for this energy conservation plan is identification. 

 

For the class, I rented Watt Meters from Austin Public Libraries for students to test electrical appliances in search of these phantom loads. In addition, students were watt watchers and made a list of electrical devices (lights, fans, decorations, etc) in classrooms left on when nobody was in the room. Step one in solving the problem is gathering data to identify the exact issue. Once we have our information on places at SMCA  wasting energy or devices that are phantom loads we can make an energy conservation plan. 

 

On average, most houses have 40 phantom load devices. If you are interested in testing your home's electricity waste, you can rent a kilowatt meter from any Austin Public Library.