Electricity rates have risen, but there are also more uses for electricity. This is because the use of home appliances that consume a lot of electricity, such as air conditioners, dehumidifiers and dryers, is increasing in the murderous heat. It is easy to take on the ‘cooling cost bomb’ while using home appliances inadvertently.
There are ways to reduce your electricity bill without much effort. It’s just ‘pull the plug’. If you make unplugging a habit, you can reduce your electricity bill by 10%.
When you unplug appliances, it is ‘standby power’ that is reduced. Standby power is electricity that is consumed while waiting for electronic devices to operate at any time. Even if your electronics are turned off, if you leave them plugged into an outlet, it means they are still using electricity.
About 10% of the electricity used in homes is used for standby power. According to the Korea Electric Research Institute, the cost of standby power nationwide is 552 billion won (as of 2011).
Unless it’s a 24-hour appliance like a refrigerator, phone, or router, it’s best to unplug it when not in use. If unplugging is cumbersome, standby power can be physically cut off using a power strip with a switch.
The current law stipulates home appliances that need to reduce standby power. Representatively, there are 20 items such as microwave ovens, printers, audio devices, and bidets. According to the Korea Electrotechnical Research Institute, home appliances with the highest standby power are set-top boxes (12.27W) and Internet modems (5.95W).
If an air conditioner (stand type) is plugged into an outlet without turning on the power, 5.81W is consumed per second. Electric rice cookers (3.47W), computers (2.62W), microwave ovens (2.19W), and TVs (1.27W) , which are easy to leave plugged in even when not in use, also have high standby power.
The best thing about saving electricity even a little bit is that you can reduce your electricity bill. In particular, since the rate was raised for five consecutive quarters from the second quarter of last year to the second quarter of last year, even if electricity is used as usual, the rate will inevitably increase. If a four-person household uses electricity as it did in July and August of last year (427㎾h), the rate will increase by 13,800 won from 66,690 won last year to 80,530 won this year.
If more electricity was used, the rate would increase explosively when it meets the progressive section (over 450㎾h). It is calculated that if a household of four used 10% more electricity than last summer, the bill could increase by 50%, and if usage increased by 20%메이저놀이터, the bill could increase by up to 70%.
On the other hand, if you pull out the plug or use a power strip with a switch, you can reduce your electricity bill by up to 10% even if you actually use electricity at a similar level. For a household of 4, this is a savings of about 8,000 won per month.
Reducing power consumption can also reduce greenhouse gases. Last year, the amount of power generation by energy source was coal (32.5%), nuclear power (29.6%), gas (27.5%), renewable energy (8.9%), and oil (0.3%). More than 60% of electricity generation still uses fossil fuels, so if you use a lot of electricity, a lot of greenhouse gases are also emitted.
It is good to save electricity at home even for a stable power supply. Demand for electricity is ever-increasing. At home, not only air conditioners but also dryers and dishwashers use a lot of power-consuming appliances, but as the data industry advances, the demand for electricity is increasing.
Electricity demand exceeded 100 GW this summer. According to the Korea Power Exchange, the average total demand for electricity between 2 and 3 p.m. on the 7th was estimated at 100.571GW. It is the first time that the power used in an hour exceeded 100GW. The peak power in July 2007 was 57.913 GW, nearly doubling in just 16 years.