I’ve been cycling a little bit in the last couple of weeks. I take each day as it comes, depending upon the weather, but I think that I’ve managed four days so far. This comes to about 40 miles.
As I mentioned in September last year, I bought a cycle computer so that I could keep track of my average speed. Unfortunately, I found that all those statistics were having a detrimental effect upon my enjoyment of the ride. It’s hard to really relax and enjoy it when you’re trying to beat your personal best by 0.1mph. So this year I’m leaving the cycle computer at home and just taking my time. Ironically, I’m probably faster because of it.
Joy of joys, last Sunday I went into Dyas and found that they now stock plug-through energy meters for £10 apiece (apparently £13 on the website).
First device to get measured up was the fridge, which we found to be consuming about 0.4 KWh per day (average over a 4 day period). We took a vacuum cleaner hose to the coils at the back, and found that the usage dropped to about 0.33 KWh per day (also measured over 4 days).
Next up is my computer. Even before anything was switched on, I was finding a draw of 11 W, which I guess is just the power supply keeping itself alive. Once the computer is switched on and settled down, this is up to 70 W. Turning on the monitor takes us up to 110 W, speaker system up to 113 W, desk lamp up to 160 W.
I was surprised by how much more energy the computer consumes than a fridge. We are always being told how the fridge is such a significant slurper of juice, yet having a computer on round the clock equates to having five fridges, and that’s without the monitor switched on. Putting it into standby or hibernate mode obviously reduces this greatly, but that’s not much help if you are actually using the thing. Maybe our fridge is just phenomenally efficient. Your mileage will vary, obviously – the odds are that your computer isn’t an AMD Sempron 3000+ with three hard drives in it.
What should I measure next?