How lockdown affects the amount of electricity used!

Tara and Stella, from the St Augustine’s Priory Junior Eco Committee, have prepared the latest edition of the Echo, the newsletter of the Junior and Senior Eco Committees.  This edition discusses the extraordinary impact on the environment of our use of electricity during lockdown.

‘During lockdown, people use 30% more gas and electricity than they would when everyone is back at work and school!  People rely on their devices for their everyday needs, for example, home schooling, tv, central heating and much more. People use nine hours of energy per day which is two hours in the morning and seven hours  in the evening. Some people do not realise how much they use a day; just turning on the phone charger or putting on the kettle for some tea uses up loads of energy – every person can see how much they use by looking at there electricity bill. On average, a rough estimate of electricity consumption is around 8kWh to 10 kWh per day, while for gas consumption, the figure stands at 33kWh to 38 kWh daily.

Remote learning and entertainment:

With millions of us spending more time at home during the peak lockdown period, more people turned to TV for their entertainment and information.

Interestingly, though, we didn’t just binge-watch our favourite Netflix TV shows — we also tuned in to watch live programmes. Boris Johnson’s speech on 10^th May 2020 drew 27.5 million viewers, for example, while the Queen’s address on 5^th April 2020 drew 24 million viewers.

Spending more time inevitably increases electricity usage in other ways too. After all, you’re not just turning on the TV set in the dark; you’re also switching on the lamps, firing up the kettle, and turning on the heating or fans for maximum TV viewing comfort.

Working at home:

Working at home not only affects the amount of electricity used but the amount of heat needed to heat the home up. People need to stay warm in the winter as it’s cold! You also need much more gas for the hob as you need three meals a day which usually needs the hob to heat up the food.’

Perhaps with the warmer weather on the way, and the upcoming return to school, we can heed these results from the Junior Eco Committee and watch our electricity and gas consumption, to make for a greener, healthier planet!