As a result of the sharp increase in the rates of services of light and gas, and faced with the uncertainty about what is to come, many people are forced to reduce costs or even do without these benefits in order to move forward. Luis Álvarez, director of the Regional Institute for the Study of Energy (IRESE) of the National Technological University of the Mendoza Regional Faculty, spoke with MDZ Radio 105.5 FM and provided a series of recommendations to analyze where we can save in terms of consumption and thus also be able to collaborate with the future in the development of the planet.
By way of introduction, he defined: “Energy efficiency is a concept that was born with the use of energy. It is doing the same thing while consuming less or doing more with the same energy. That starts from the fact that energy, in whatever form, is a rare commodity. It has its limitations or, in the process of transforming it to be able to use it, there are elements that, if we do not do them efficiently, cost us very much. Everything has to maintain a cost-benefit ratio. “There’s no need to waste it.”
The electromechanical engineer raised the question: Are we consuming a lot or are we consuming poorly?to which he responded: “We get used to wasting our energy. In the energy There is a concept, for an electric anything has a size in watts or kilowatts, that motor is so many HP, the equivalent of watts. If you use that for a minute or an hour, the energy put into play is different. For example, an electric kettle has 2000 watts, almost like an electric water heater or the highest consumption appliances. But, it is proven that in a minute and a half your water boiled. If you put that on a stove with gas, it will take you eight to ten minutes. So, we are using very intensively the energy electric but in a short time, that is somehow good. If we manage to manage or manage that concept, especially in homes, we can achieve a saving of energy“.
“Sometimes we leave heating or cooling systems running 24 hours a day, it is an unnecessary expense. But since it was an input that did not affect our pocket, it did not matter. Now, when the cost begins to be more important, we begin to look closely. more attention to the issue of how we use energy“he added in reference to the current context.
On the other hand, he once again emphasized that “we do not administer the energy as a scarce good, as we do with water.” And he maintained that “it is a good that we have to manage, and each one has to do it from their point of view. A municipality will take care of the public lighting, the one who pays the bill at home is the one who will have to go back turning off the lights or checking how things are. “We have to educate ourselves.”
Furthermore, Álvarez referred to the devices that consume the most and those that consume the least: “Those with the highest consumption are those that transform energy electricity directly into heat and they do so at the cost of a lot of energy. For example, a heater or an iron. There are also small consumptions, such as leaving the cell phone charger plugged in, the LEDs on, and the sum of all of them – according to a study – indicates that in a typical house they would be between 3% and 5% consumption.” .
Finally, as a recommendation, he mentioned the rate bands. They are divided into peak hours (or peak), off-peak hours (or night hours) and rest hours. Peak hours are the hours during which the system is in high demand and therefore more expensive, generally from 6pm to 11pm. Off-peak are hours during which the system is less in demand and therefore cheaper. And the rest are the hours that do not correspond to any of the other two categories, with an intermediate cost.
