Making It Personal

To estimate my own personal energy use over 3 days is no easy feat. Trying to record every single time I use (or think I do?) energy suddenly seems daunting. Basically, I realized that I use energy (on average) about 20/7; save for a few hours each day.

To begin this task, here's a list of things that use energy. I'll make my best guess as to how long I used each one...

Day One- Monday 10/5

lamp- 20 minutes

bathroom light- 20 min

phone- 2 hours use, 4 hours "use-lite" (listening to music)

phone charger- 2 hours

computer- 4 hours

comp charger- 1 hour

classroom/academic building lights- 8 hours

food prep-3 hours? 

dining halls- 2 hours 

lampposts-30 min

shower (hot water)- 15 min

string lights- 20 min

Day Two- Tuesday 10/5

lamp- 40 minutes

bathroom light- 20 min

phone- 2 hours use, 4 hours "use-lite" (listening to music)

phone charger- 2 hours

computer- 2 hours

comp charger- 1 hour

classroom lights- 6 hours

food prep-3 hours 

dining halls- 2 hours 

observatory (flashlights, dim light)- 1 hour

lampposts-30 min

hoop- 2 hours

shower (hot water)- 15 min

string lights- 30 min

fan- 8 hours

Day Three- Wednesday

lamp- 40 minutes

bathroom light- 20 min

phone- 2 hours use, 4 hours "use-lite" (listening to music)

phone charger- 2 hours

computer- 4 hours

comp charger- 2 hour

classroom lights- 4 hours

food prep-3 hours 

dining halls- 4 hours 

library- 2 hours

lampposts-20 min

auditorium- 1.5 hours

string lights- 2 hours

fan- 8 hours

I didn't account for energy used for less than 1 minute...such as walking through a building to get somewhere else. One of the trickiest parts was estimating how much time I used with my phone, as I play music constantly and check the screen on and off all day. Also, for food prep energy use I took a completely wild guess. I don't eat a lot of hot food on campus, and really have no idea how to estimate something like this...

Estimations:based on a typical lightbulb and typical LED light

>assume typical lightbulb uses ~60 Watts per hour

>assumes typical LED light uses ~6 Watts per hour

Averages for 3 days

lamp ~30 min > 30 Watts

phone(~ 2 LED)~ 3 hours > 36 Watts

computer (~1 lightbulb) ~ 3 hours > 180 Watts
charging (~1 lightbulb)~ 4 hours> 240

all public lighting( equiv. of 2 lightbulbs)~ 11 hours > 1,320 Watts

food prep~ 2 hours > 240 Watts

string lights (~30 LED)~ 1 hour > 180 Watts

lampposts (~2 lightbulbs)~ 30 min > 60 Watts

hot water~ 15 min > 30 Watts

fan (1/2 lightbulb)~ 5 hours > 150 Watts

Total Daily Use Estimation ~2,500 Watts