PERFORMANCE TASK: HOUSEHOLD ENERGY AUDIT

Energy is used every day. Every activity humans do requires energy in some form. Households are filled with
appliances that use electrical energy to make living more convenient. Televisions, rice cookers, microwave ovens,
computers, and light bulbs are some examples of the appliances that use different amount of electrical power,
which is measured in watts. The rate of electricity use is reflected in an electrical bill, which is paid in terms of
kilowatt-hours. Electricity in the Philippines is mostly generated from the burning of fossil fuels in coal- and diesel-
fired power plants. So every time electricity is used, carbon and other greenhouse gases are released in the
atmosphere. The first step to help reduce the harmful effects of energy use is identifying and understanding how
much energy is used every day. One simple way to determine expended energy is to identify the appliances that use
electricity in our homes and then calculate the amount of electricity each one uses. We can then add up this
electricity to figure out the total electric energy consumed by our household. We can also compare the electricity
used by different appliances to help us make effective choices when we try to save energy.
Procedure
1. Make an inventory of appliances and electrical items your entire family use at home. For each one, look for the
label that indicates the number of watts it uses.
2. Fill in how many hours per day this appliance is used into a typical weekday and a Sunday. Be as accurate as
possible.
3. For each appliance, convert the data into the number of kilowatt-hours of energy that each one uses. This can be
done using the formula: kWh used per day = (watt rating)(total minutes/60)/100
4. From your electricity bill, find out the coast of electricity per kWh for your area, compute for the coast of using it
over a given time. Write all your data in a table similar to the one below.
Electric Appliance Quantity Watt Rating (W) Time Used kWh used per day Cost of use
or Device (min/day) (Php/day) at
Php9.00/kWh
Electric fan 1 1 60 1,020 1.02 9.18
Electric fan 2 1 60 960 0.96 8.64
Refrigerator 1 95 1,440 2.28 20.52
Light Bulb 1 1 5 480 0.004 0.036
Light Bulb 2 1 7 720 0.084 0.756
Light Bulb 3 1 5 720 0.06 0.54
Cellphone 1 1 5 300 0.025 0.225
Cellphone 2 1 10 300 0.05 0.45
Cellphone 3 1 5 120 0.01 0.09
Flat Iron 1 1,100 20 0.37 3.33
Electric Kettle 1 1,200 5 0.1 0.9
Total 11 2,552 6,085 4.963 44.67
5. Using the total kWh used per day, determine the amount of CO2 your entire family releases into the atmosphere
per day from your electricity use. Generally, 0.7 kg of CO2 is emitted per kWh, assuming that all our electricity
comes from a coal fired power plant. In the sample table, 0.735 kg of CO2 is emitted from 1.05 kWh used.

Guide questions (Answer in not less than 2 sentences.)

1. What appliances and electrical items does your family usually use on a weekday? On a Sunday?
My family uses Electric fan, Cellular phones, Light Bulbs and Refrigerator usually on weekdays and even
on Sundays since they are necessary in our daily lives. Flat iron is use during weekdays when we wear our
school uniforms (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday) and during Sundays. Electric Kettle is used only
when we want to drink milk or coffee but that often happens.
 2. How much energy do you consume on a typical weekday and Sunday in kWh and in peso? How about in one
whole month? The total KWh we consume everyday on weekdays is only 4.813 KWh costing Php43.317
estimate since we have classes that day. There’s a small difference during the use of electricity between
weekdays and weekends since we don't have classes and we barely hang out outside the house on those
days except when there's some special event to attend to. Our energy consumed during weekends is
5.23KWh costing Php47.07 which is higher compared to weekdays. Getting the average time of use of
appliances in week, all in all in one month, we use energy amounting to 148.89KWh and Php1, 235.1
approximately.

3. How much carbon dioxide does your family emit in a day? In a month?
According to Rappler News, the national average of kg of CO2 emitted every 1KWh is 0.6032. By
multiplying the total KWh we use each day to 0.6032 we get to release 2.10 kg of Carbon Dioxide and in
one month the emission of CO2 to the atmosphere by our family is 89.81 kg.

Conclusion (Write your conclusion regarding this activity in not less than 2 sentences)
Post-Activity Questions (Answer in not less than 2 sentences)

1 .How do you feel about the results of this activity? I was sadden of the results. I already expected that our
electricity consumption is high because me as an individual uses electricity in hour home such as electric fans
and charging phone from time to time. I remembered Greta Thunberg, a girl whose a year younger than me
but she was already able to voice out and fight for the environment because she sincerely care for the earth.
When I finished the activity, I got the results as I expected and Only that-nothing more. I was disappointed by
my ignorance.

2. What can you do in order to lessen the amount of carbon dioxide your family contributes to the atmosphere?
I could encourage myself and every member of my family to reduce the use of electricity. Make sure that
everything is plugged out and turned off when appliances are not used. Electric fan is the most used appliance
aside from refrigerator and we could avoid using it as much as possible. Cell phones must only be charged at
least 2 times a day and not more than that. In order to achieve this, great effort and discipline is a must.