I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of optimizing my home’s energy usage, and recently, I decided to dive into this project head-first. After a long time since my last analysis, I revisited my energy monitoring setup and found some interesting insights. Here’s my journey and the lessons I learned along the way.
The Setup
I’ve been using a Brultech power meter for a while now, which has given me 14 channels of detailed power consumption data. With LED lighting and other updates around the house, I thought it was time to reassess my baseline power usage. To my surprise, I was consistently using around 320W overnight, which seemed a bit high. My goal was to reduce this number and save some energy (and potentially some money).
The Process
I started by identifying the main power consumers in my baseline usage. Here’s what I found:
- 1x Charger for an older Harmony Remote: 1W
- 2x D-Link Gaming Routers: 7W each
- 1x Logitech Revue: 12W
- 1x Onkyo TX-NR807 Receiver: 58W (in standby mode) – this one was a shocker!
With these culprits identified, I decided to make some changes. I reorganized my AV closet by splitting the power rails into an Always On rail and a Switched rail. I moved the Onkyo Receiver, PlayStation, Wii, and Xantech IR Repeater to the Switched rail, while keeping the network switch and Logitech Revue on the Always On rail. To control the Switched rail, I attached a GE Z-Wave Appliance Module and integrated it into my Arming/Disarming scenes for the house.
The Results
After these changes, my baseline power usage dropped to about 250W. While it’s not a massive saving, every little bit helps, especially as we head into the summer months with increased air conditioning usage. The next steps involve refining my Scene definitions to reduce the time the Switched rail is enabled, adding Scenes to turn it on when presence is detected in the media room, and investigating why the Onkyo receiver consumes so much power in standby mode.
The Takeaway
This project has been a great exercise in problem-solving and has given me a renewed appreciation for the little things we can do to optimize our homes. It’s also been interesting to see how different devices contribute to overall power consumption, even when they’re not actively in use. I’m looking forward to continuing this journey and exploring more ways to make my home smarter and more energy-efficient.
If anyone has tips or experiences to share on reducing baseline power usage, I’d love to hear them! Let’s keep the conversation going. 