Schneider Electric: Searching for gold in energy management for private households

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Created by Schneider Electric

Schneider Electric: Searching for gold in energy management for private households

Schneider Electric

This year’s summer of sport is in full swing and soon some of the best athletes from around the world will be pushing the boundaries of what is possible after months and years of training.

But did you know that our homes are more like athletes than you might think?

Every sports professional knows that controlling your energy is crucial to success, especially in long-distance or endurance sports. You need to know how to manage your energy expenditure, speed up or slow down when necessary, and adapt to your competitors’ moves in order to reach the finish line first.

But getting to that point takes months of training and hard work to get the body in shape. Athletes know that a holistic approach is required when it comes to fitness and performance; sleep, breathing, nutrition and mental fitness are all equally important to keep the body in shape and energized for competition.

A person holding a mobile phone

In addition, results tracking is an essential part of any training program. After each training session, athletes and their performance coaches spend hours going through data and practice recordings to review where there were gains and losses, where they underperformed, and where there is room for improvement.

And all these practices can be applied in a similar way to our homes…

When it comes to energy, it’s important to use the right amount at the right time. For example, it’s far more efficient to run larger electrical loads like electric vehicle chargers at night when electricity rates are cheaper than running them during the day. Similarly, for homes with solar panels and battery storage, instead of drawing paid electricity from the grid in the evening, homeowners could instead optimize their stored solar-generated energy during the day to power their electrical devices effectively and for free.

For homeowners seeking real improvements in their home’s energy management, it is pointless to look at appliances in isolation or to change just one part of the home. Like an athlete, a holistic approach must be taken; electrical appliances, heating, hot water and lighting all contribute to the home’s overall energy efficiency. For example, changing only heating habits and ignoring everything else will only achieve a fraction of the efficiency gains.

Energy consumption tracker and mobile app

So how can homeowners track their performance?

Just like an app or data from a performance coach would allow athletes to track their progress, Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS) are the perfect way to do the same for homes. Take Wiser for example!

With the Wiser system and the use of PowerTags, homeowners can easily integrate all of their electrical devices and appliances in one place. Through the app, homeowners can easily track how many calories – or energy – the home uses throughout the day and what impact this has on the health of the home, i.e. its energy bills. Using this data, homeowners can fully understand their energy needs and begin to make improvements by adjusting their schedules to better optimize energy use and reap the benefits. After all, it’s not about consuming calories like crazy, it’s about consuming sensibly.

As any athlete knows, practice makes perfect. No one will optimize their home energy use perfectly the first time without prior knowledge or experience. But the more time homeowners invest in learning about better energy management, becoming familiar with their energy use and how their habits affect it, and using the right tools, the faster they can become top performers. It’s also important to remember that achieving energy efficiency is a marathon rather than a sprint. While it may take a while to see significant savings in energy costs, the changes homeowners make will pay off in the long run.

To learn more about residential energy management systems like Wiser and how they can help you get the most out of your tariff, visit our Energy monitoring at home Page.