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4 Reasons to Monitor Your Electricity Usage

4 Reasons to Monitor Your Electricity Usage

Electricity is a utility that we frequently take for granted. We often don’t consider the importance or level of usage in our day-to-day lives. Eyedro has set out to ensure that consumers are able to quantify the cost of their electricity and monitor its use. There are multiple reasons to monitor your electricity usage, discover four of those below and check out our electricity monitoring technology today.

Identify energy inefficiencies in your home with an Eyedro energy monitoring system

Identify Inefficiencies

One of the main benefits of monitoring the electricity usage in your home is being able to find out where you might be inefficient. Identifying energy hogs and energy use habits are the first steps towards addressing your home energy inefficiencies. With MyEyedro cloud data, you can view your real-time energy use data from wherever you are.

Financial Benefits

When it comes to your electricity bill, it can be difficult to ascertain where your money is going. When you utilize an Eyedro system to monitor your electricity usage, you will be able to see exactly where your hard earned dollars are being spent. This will also allow you to address specific problem areas and save you money in the process. With MyEyedro Bills data and automated Reports you will be able to see how your energy saving efforts are paying off over time.

Financial benefits of energy monitoring with Eyedro
Raise your energy usage awareness with an Eyedro energy monitor

Awareness

It is very easy to go through the day without paying any attention to the amount of electricity that we use. When you utilize a home electricity monitor from Eyedro, you will be able to observe and calculate the electrical impact that you make every day. Being aware of your energy footprint allows you to make changes to your usage patterns that may help you conserve energy and money.

Understanding Appliances

You would be surprised at how easily old appliances can make up most of your energy bill. Those old incandescent bulbs in your kitchen or that rickety air conditioning unit can contribute greatly to increasing your utility payments. Identifying problematic appliances allows you the opportunity to address everyday devices that might be draining your wallet. With MyEyedro on-the-go cloud data you can monitor your electricity usage in real time and then make changes to save money – Track, React, Save!

Understand appliance energy use with an Eyedro energy monitor

Track, React, Save Money!

We have presented you with 4 Reasons to Monitor Your Electricity Usage – can you think of any others?

Electricity is a utility that we can frequently take for granted. We often don’t consider the importance or level of usage in our day-to-day lives. Eyedro has set out to ensure that consumers are able to quantify the cost of their electricity and monitor its use. Learn about the benefits of monitoring electricity below and check out our electricity monitoring technology today.

Shop Eyedro Home Energy Monitors

Do Christmas Lights Use a Lot of Electricity?

Do Christmas Lights Use a Lot of Electricity?

How Much Would it Cost to Run the Griswold Lights Today?

Remember National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation?  In the movie Clark Griswold creates a Christmas light display so massive that he takes down the power to his entire neighbourhood!  What would the Griswold’s electric bill look like if his yard were illuminated by 25000 energy saving LED bulbs? 

Do Christmas lights use a lot of electricity?  The answer lies in the type of bulb that you use to light up the night.

Let’s travel back to 1989 and assume that Clark was using the popular at the time C7 incandescent bulbs in his Christmas light strings.  Each C7 bulb uses about 5W.

5W x 25000 = 125,000 Watts or 125 kW

Let’s also assume that Clark ran his lights for 8 hours per day for the entire month of December.  We’ll use 10 cents/kWh for the sake of simplicity.

125 kW x 8 hours x 10 cents/kWh = $100/day x 31 days = $3100

Griswold Light Display:

  • 25000 bulbs
  • Type =  C7 incandescent
  • Typical wattage of each bulb = 5 watts
  • 5 watts x 25000 bulbs =125,000 watts
  • Run time per day = 8 hours for 31 days
  • 1 month kWh usage based on 10 cents/kWh

Based on the above, it would cost $100 a day to power the Griswold light show and $3100 for the month!

The Griswold energy bill is nuts!

De-Griswold Your Energy Bill With LED!

The Griswold family electric bill would have been considerably less stress producing if those 25000 bulbs had been mini LED.  Let’s see how LED compares to the C7 bulbs of 1989.

0.1W x 25000 = 2500 Watts or 2.5 kW

2.5 kW x 8 hours x 10 cents/kWh = $2/day x 31 days = $62

    Energy Saving LED Mini Christmas Lights

    Energy Monitoring Made Easy

    The Perfect Gift for the Christmas Light Lover

    Keep track of the energy you are using to light up the holidays.  Save money on your electricity bill all year round with an Eyedro home energy monitor!

    Shop Now Eyedro EHEM1-LV home energy monitor

    EHEM1-LV Home Energy Monitor

    Ethernet Connected

    Shop Now Eyedro EYEFI-2 solar and energy monitor

    EYEFI-2 Home Energy & Solar Monitor

    WiFi Connected

    Shop Now Eyedro EYEFI-4 solar and energy monitor

    EYEFI-4 Home Energy & Solar Monitor

    WiFi Connected

    Save Energy at Home

    Save Energy at Home

    Save Energy at Home

    Save energy at home with an Eyedro Home Energy monitor.  Take the mystery out of your energy usage with the comprehensive suite of reporting tools in the MyEyedro cloud software.  MyEyedro access is included with the purchase of your Eyedro Home Energy monitor with no subscription fees.

    MyEyedro offers a range of insightful options to help you manage your electricity usage.  Automated reports can be sent to your email and you can also share reports with additional users.  Instantaneous live data will let you know when your energy hogs are running (think clothes dryer, oven, electric heaters), so you can manage the best time for operating these appliances based on your utility times and rates.  Real-time data lets you view your live usage as you turn devices off and on.  Bills data customized with common utility rate structures are viewable with a 12 month window.  Historical data will allow you to track your usage trends over time as you move through the months and seasons and year to year.

    Print on demand reports or download your raw data to Excel.  MyEyedro offers a myriad of ways for you to view your energy data.

    MyEyedro cloud data is integrated with Amazon Alexa, Samsung SmartThings and Google Assistant for added smart home functionality.

    Typical Power Ratings of Your Home Appliances

    Christmas lights power usage
    appliance power rating chart

    Phone, internet, water, and energy bills, they all add up. Determining the right mix of service, price, and convenience can help you save money on your utility bills.

    Energy Monitoring Made Easy

    The Perfect Gift for the Homeowner

    Give them the gift of year-round energy savings because nobody likes to pay more for electricity than they have to, not even Santa!

    Shop Now Eyedro EHEM1-LV home energy monitor

    EHEM1-LV Home Energy Monitor

    Ethernet Connected

    Shop Now Eyedro EYEFI-2 solar and energy monitor

    EYEFI-2 Home Energy & Solar Monitor

    WiFi Connected

    Shop Now Eyedro EYEFI-4 solar and energy monitor

    EYEFI-4 Home Energy & Solar Monitor

    WiFi Connected

    Canadian Tire Saves: Eyedro Retail Case Study

    Canadian Tire Saves: Eyedro Retail Case Study

    Canadian Tire Saves: Eyedro Retail Case Study

     

    The Tire Knows How to Save!

    
    canadian tire eyedro case study
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

    Electricity, Gas and Water for Retail Operations – One Dashboard!

     

    PROFILE:

    “After using Eyedro’s Energy Monitor we immediately identified key areas of the retail operations where we could start saving money. By following our power usage and cost profile we can plan our monthly operating costs accordingly. The monitors installed paid for themselves within months.”

    Michael G. – Canadian Tire Store, Alberta Canada

     

    • Located in the City of Red Deer
    • 94,000 square feet of Retail
    • 24 circuits monitored, Water and Gas mains
    • 18% saved on Energy Budget in 10 months
    • Water and Gas monitors for bill reconciliation

     

    OBJECTIVES:

    To provide a detailed profile of the energy use of Retail Operations in each department throughout the store and identify energy saving opportunities.

    Meet energy budget reduction targets and provide Computerized Energy Monitoring.

    The cloud-based solution in real time identifies inefficiencies in daily and seasonal operations.

     

    SOLUTION:

    The Eyedro Green Solutions ™ Energy Monitoring System was installed on every breaker with a large or critical load for monitoring the energy by retail department and looking for energy waste in daily operations.

    The store can now monitor all types of Energy in one simple dashboard while at the same time compare readings with the Utility bills. Advanced Alerts will allow them to shed load when needed to avoid stepping up to a higher tariff band or when equipment, such as parking lot lighting, was left on after hours from the convenience of their phone.

     

    Eyedro dashboard for electricity, water and gas

    Electricity, Water and Gas all on One Dashboard!

    Shop Eyedro for Business.

     

    Phantom Power

    Phantom Power

    Phantom power: your home’s devices and appliances, when plugged in, continue to draw power even when they are off

    It is called “phantom” or “standby” power, and it could account for up to 10 per cent of your home’s energy use. The average home has 25 or more electronic devices that use phantom power, costing approximately $200 or more a year in electricity. (in a 2,000 sq ft home)

    Track your phantom power with the MyEyedro Phantom Energy plugin.  The MyEyedro software provides you with a 24 hour window of your phantom power usage.

    hydro one energy vampires

    How Do I Identify the “Phantoms”?
    • Appliances with remote controls (TV, Video and Audio Equipment)
    • Appliances with continuous digital displays (Clock on Stove, Coffee Maker)
    • Appliances with rechargeable batteries (Cordless Phones, Laptops)
    • Appliances with external power supplies (Cell Phone Chargers, Electronics)
    How Do I Get Rid of the “Phantoms”?
    • Plug devices into power strips – and turn them off
    • Unplug appliances when not in use
    • Use clocks powered by rechargeable batteries

    When buying new appliances, choose appliances with low standby power and look for the Energy Star symbol

    For more information on Home Energy Monitoring please visit https://eyedro.com/

    Big Savings with LED Lighting

    Big Savings with LED Lighting

    Big Savings with LED Lighting

     

    big savings with led lighting

    *Based on 2 hours per day @ 0.10/kWh

    Which Type of Light Bulbs Should you Choose?

     

    In these days of rising electricity prices it may be time for a whole home light bulb retrofit.  With a quick look at the above infographic it quickly becomes apparent that significant savings are to be had by swapping out incandescent bulbs for LED lighting.

    Incandescent bulbs are inexpensive to purchase but tremendously inefficient as they dissipate most of the energy they consume as heat.

    The cost of running one 60 watt incandescent bulb for 2 hours per day at 10 cents/kWh, would cost $4.38 per year.  The 15 watt compact fluorescent equivalent would cost $1.10 per year and the LED version comparable to the 60 watt incandescent would only cost $0.66!  Now multiply that by the average number of bulbs in a home.

    The average number of light bulbs in a home is 24 according to Natural Resources Canada’s Office of Energy Efficiency 2007 statistics.  When you multiply the yearly dollar figures of the incandescent and LED bulb by 24 that’s when the savings opportunities really become obvious:  $105.12 vs. $15.84!

    While initially LED bulbs were quite expensive to purchase, they have in recent years come down in price and are now very affordable.

     

    The advantages of LED lighting are clear:
    • Extremely energy efficient compared to traditional light bulbs
    • No toxic mercury risk like CFL
    • Affordable
    • Very long life if you purchase good quality bulbs (this may or may not apply to dollar store finds – caveat emptor)

    Try a little experiment!  Install each type of bulb one by one in a lamp and check how much power is being consumed using your Eyedro Real-Time Electricity Monitor.  Saving electricity can be fun, saving money even better.

     

    Ready to dig a little deeper into your energy usage?