phantom loads in residential projects in medellín, colombia...figure 1. classification of phantom...

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Phantom Loads in Residential Projects in Medellín, Colombia

Daniel Pineda Guzmán, B.Arch. Alexander González Castaño, D. Arch. [Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana] [Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana]

[email protected] [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Energy efficiency’s specialized bibliographic sources define phantom loads as a dispensable electric energy inversion that some appliances make on secondary functions, such as light’s pilots, remote control receptors and digital clocks. This investigation was developed in the “Laboratorio de Estudios y Experimentación Técnica en Arquitectura”, LEET (Technical Experiments, of the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana Architecture School, FAD-UPB). It proposes the verification, analysis and quantification of the phantom loads in residential buildings located on Medellin, Colombia, emphasizing on its origins based on the kind of appliances, its technologic validity and the use factor. The applied methodology on this investigation was based on energy consumption measurements during the stand-by mode of all the appliances of eleven similar socioeconomic condition residential buildings. A wattmeter was used as the main measurement tool. The results of this investigation revealed on quantitative data the impact of phantom loads over the total electric energy consumption bill of the analyzed buildings. Results also allowed classification of phantom loads according to how much the energy leak is, and its use. Consolidated data of this investigation prove that phantom loads are 3.73% of the total electric consumption. This represents an opportunity of finding alternatives for an efficient management model of the cities electric consumption. This paper’s conclusions are the first approach to the energy leaking problem in the national context.

Keywords: phantom loads, energy conservation, electricity, sustainable house.

INTRODUCTION

Invention of the incandescent lamp in the year 1860 by English chemist Joseph Swan (National Museum of American History), defined the beginning of a process of colonization of households by technology that favored, during the following years, the invention of several electrical appliances, such as the telephone, the radio, the television set and the oven, among many others. During the decade of 1970, advances were carried out in the field of electronics: the personal computer was invented, as well as video games, cell phones and Internet. For all human needs that arose, a non-manual device was created to solve it, and that automatization process of daily household life known as automation, foresaw times of a high demand for electric energy.

Simultaneously to techonological advancement in the twentieth century, there emerged under the general ignorance, a phenomenon related to the electric energy consumption: “phantom loads” or “ghost loads”. Since the invention of the remote control in 1903, some household electronic devices used it as the main command, which adaptation to radios and television sets required a new operational mode to

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use household devices, known as “stand-by” mode, by which the device has a percentage of electric energy to keep a receptor functioning, and allows it to be turned on at the order of the control.

The characteristics of households and the contemporary way of life, highly depending on electronic household devices, consolidated the set of phantom loads associated to each of the electric devices as a not negligible element on the monthly energetic budget. It is stated, according to studies carried out in the year 2000 in the main Australian cities (Energy Efficient Strategies, 2006), that the monthly average consumption by concept of phantom loads in Australian households was 86.8Wh per person, a figure that grew over a period of five years, reaching 10.7% of the monthly energetic consumption, that is to say, 92.2Wh per person, of a monthly average household total consumption of 265kWh.

The Colombian context, and specifically regarding the city of Medellin, Antioquia, still has no record of studies or measurements carried out with the goal of quantifying phantom loads and the calculations for its incidence within the monthly total electricity comsumption in residential buildings, for which this investigation applied to a specific context is considered pertinent.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

The term “vampire Load” refers to the existing similitude between the fangs of the mythical character and the two common terminals in an outlet. There is no clarity as to whom and when this concept was first used to define power loss in household appliances during “stand-by” mode; however, it is attributed to swiss engineer Sandberg, E. (1993) the first use of the term “Leaking Electricity”, during the conference “Electronic home equipment – Leaking electricity”, in Rungstedlund, Denmark, according to which an electricity leak is defined as: “Energy demand of television sets, CD players and other electronic devises during inactive mode”, making this a first approach to the concept of phantom load.

Nowadays, definition of the phantom load concept is directly related with modes in the use of electrical household appliances: off, in passive waiting mode, active waiting mode, and programmed start. Power consumption is not considered phantom load during active mode: “standby consumption (or phantom) is the one generated while the household appliance is not performing its primary function”. (Energy Efficient Strategies, 2006)

METHODOLOGY

For the investigation purposes, eleven study cases were done in residential buildings in the city of Medellín, with area, typology, and population number variations, considering only the socio-economic levels 4, 5 and 6. The decision to collect this information in high economic levels is based on the presumption that the amount of household electronic appliances is greater per capita, thus increasing the possibilities of phantom load loss. Next there is a general description of study cases:


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Table 1. General Information of each Study Case

Each study case consists of the measurement of electricity consumption of all electronic devices that remain connected to an energy source, during time intervals of: 0, 5, 10 and 20 minutes, which allows to obtain a weighted average consumption, and decrease this way the possibility of calculating irregular and/or atypical power consumption levels. The result of this operation expressed in Wh, is then multiplied by the number of daily hours of dispensability of the household appliance; that is to say, how many hours in a day such appliance could remain disconnected without affecting the lifestyle of the inhabitants, and that for practical issues was defined as 7, which represents daylight or night hours destined to sleeping, obtaining this way data for “Phantom/Day consumption (Wh)”. Finally, column “Phantom/month consumption (Wh)” is shown, which is equivalent to multiplying the latter column by 30, the number of average days in a month.

In a simultaneous way to the application of measurements, other data was collected through observation and surveys, related to the characterization of each electric household device, an a greater understanding population habits, as well as the effective state of electrical devices. Additional data collected: a) category of use; that is to say, what is the purpose of the household device: computing, refrigeration and/or heating, entertainment, cooking, accessories or laundry; b) brand of the appliance, c) a brief description in case it is relevant, and finally, d) approximate age in years according to categories: 0 – 5 years old, 5 – 10 years old, 10 – 15 years old, and older than 15.

Table 2. Information Collection Table


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For every residential complex, a survey was performed regarding people’s habits, concerning topics related to electric savings that represent a percentage of incidence in the total phantom loads, such as finding out if people disconnect or not cell phones and personal computers when these devices are totally charged, and their willingness or not to modify their conduct once informed with respect to this issue.

All measurements were done on a 20 minute time span for each device, through the use of a wattmeter called Kill a Watt with a precision range of 0.2%. Neither temperature nor humidity variations were considered at the moment of measurements, neither possible electrical fluctuations derived from the hour at which the electrical consumption was registered.

RESULTS ANALYSIS

- For the eleven study cases, energy waste levels by way of phantom loads are equivalent to 3.73% of the total of monthly electric consumption for every household, which allows us to corroborate the existence of phantom loads in the urban residential sector in the city of Medellin. Next, the calculation of percentage representativeness of phantom loads in the monthly electric consumption, organized by study case and expressed in percentage:

Table 3. Calculation of Percentage Representativeness of Phantom Loads in the Total Monthly

Electricity Consumption

Of all the study cases, SC08 showed the least percentage of incidences due to phantom loads, with a 0.77%, and the SC11 the greatest, with a 7.04%. The aforementioned are distant data from the average, because the majority of cases can be placed between 3 and 6%.

- The analysis of power consumption according to activity shows that the greatest energy deviation is found in household appliances destined to Entertainment, with a 40.89% of the total of electricity consumption by way of phantom loads, far from the second place taken by appliances related to Computation, with a 23.59%. The activity that represented the least power expenditure due to phantom loads was Refrigeration/heating, with 0.43%, due mainly to conditions of humidity and temperature in Medellin being close to thermal comfort range, reason for which these household electronic appliances are not commonly found for residential use.


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Table 4. Calculation of Phantom Consumption According to Activity Type Related to Household Appliance

- Analysis of electricity consumption according to age of household appliances allowed investigating about the relevance of the “technological life” variable; in other words, incidence of age and the degree of technological update on energetic waste loads. Next, a graph that relates age to phantom consumption of household appliances:

Table 5. Age of household appliances and average consumption according to age

The average consumption in Wh of household appliances according to approximate age indicates that those that are between 10-15 years old have an average phantom consumption equivalent to 3.36Wh, the highest among analyzed appliances; however, consumption of those that are over 15 years old is only 0.46Wh; that is to say that, according to general performance, it is possible to state that there is no direct relationship between age and phantom load consumption, which allows to say that technological update of household appliances does not necessarily imply a decrease in phantom loads

- Another analysis item in this investigation seeks to establish what percentage of household appliances have electricity leakage in their secondary functioning modes, and simultaneously establish levels according to leak energy quantity. Established ranges for this analysis were: equal to 0Wh, less than 1Wh, between 1-5Wh, and more than 5Wh.

Table 6. Classification of Phantom Loads According Electrical Consumption

Results according to the eleven study cases indicate that 33.89% of diagnosed household appliances did not have phantom loads, namely, electric consumption during secondary use mode is equal to 0Wh. Next, the graph summarizing classification previously mentioned:


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Figure 1. Classification of phantom loads according to electricity consumption

- According to statistics of the Mayor’s Office of Medellín, in 2010 there were a total of 641,780 residential units in the city of Medellín. Extrapolating results from this investigation from the phantom loads data per household unit equivalent to 8.16kWh, means affirming that for the city’s total households, the monthly electricity leakage is equivalent to 5,236,924.8kWh.

Table 7. Number of households per Socio-Economic Stratum and Commune

The cost of that wasted energy is COP $ 2,038,858,872 million pesos monthly, according to the cost of 1 kWh as of January 2014. Data, discriminated by stratum, is shown next:


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Table 8. Cost of Wasted Energy due to Phantom Loads According to Stratum

- Based on results of the survey made to one person per household about some habits and their influence on phantom loads, results indicate that 63% of those interviewed decide not to disconnect their laptops from electricity once they are completely charged, and 90% decide not to disconnect their desktops when they finish using them. However, the survey indicates that 55% of those interviewed in fact disconnect their household electrical appliances at night, or during their absence during the day.

Table 9. Results survey made to a resident per residential unit

The results of the survey show that, even though there is a degree of ignorance about the levels of electrical consumption during secondary functioning modes in some devices, and that the majority of the people do not disconnect electrical devices when done using them due to laziness or lack of knowledge, there is a high degree of acceptance to the proposal of solution alternatives that take care of disconnecting electronic appliances automatically, as is proposed in the last question of the survey, to which 100% of those surveyed answered in an affirmative way.

CONCLUSIONS

According to set objectives for the development of this investigation, this has been achieved: - Demonstrating the existence of phantom loads in the urban residential sector of the city of

Medellín, Colombia, according to analysis of electricity consumption made in eleven residential units with stratum 4, 5 and 6.

- Quantifying percentage incidence of phantom loads cunsumption over the total electricity


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consumption of diagnosed households, equivalent to 3.73% of the monthly electricity consumption; that is to say, an average of 8.16kWh per house.

- Establishing independence between phantom loads and technological update expressed in age and technological updating of appliances, through quantitative demonstration that there is no relationship between both variables.

- Quantifying economic and energy investment at a city level (Medellín) that represents loss of electricity by way of phantom loads in residential units, equivalent to 5,236,924.8kWh and COP $2,038,858,872 million pesos.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The development of this investigation was possible thanks to the participation of Architecture students of Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Juan Camilo Paniagua, Mateo Alzate, Juan Camilo Fernández and Valerie López, who were active members in collecting information of every study case. Also thanks to the people who allowed student access to all rooms in their households with the goal of making all pertinent measurements.

REFERENCES

Alcaldía de Medellin. 2010. Viviendas residenciales estratificadas por comuna y barrio, según estrato. Recovered on January 24th of 2014, from: http://www.medellin.gov.co/irj/go/km/docs/wpccontent/Sites/Subportal%20del%20Ciudadano/Planeaci%C3%B3n%20Municipal/Secciones/Indicadores%20y%20Estad%C3%ADsticas/Documentos/Estratificaci%C3%B3n/Viviendas%20Estratificadas%20por%20Comuna%20y%20Barrio%202010.pdf

Energy Efficient Strategies. 2006. 2005 Intrusive Residential Standby Survey Report. National museum of American history. Lamp Inventors 1880-1940: Carbon Filament Incandescent.

Recovered on February 25th of 2014, from: http://americanhistory.si.edu/lighting/bios/swan.htm Sandberg, E. 1993. Electronic home equipment – leaking electricity, pp. 375


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