Samoa Hostel Wattimus Prime

Objective

To design a metering scheme that will monitor and display the impact of the electricity usage to visitors staying at the Samoa Hostel.

Background

The Samoa Hostel intends to educate visitors about topics related to ecology and conservationism. Part of this is an effort to allow visitors to monitor how much energy they are using, including electricity consumed by appliances that are plugged in but not in use. Studies have shown that self-monitoring of energy usage cuts consumption by a significant degree. Our solution's purpose is to find a meter for each of the twenty-four rooms of the hostel. Most meters being intended for monitoring either a single socket or an entire building has presented a unique challenge for our solution.

Constraints

• Each room has one meter.
• The meter is at eye-level (five feet).
• The meter has an easy to read LCD screen.
• The meter is easy to operate.
• The meter can measure up to 220V accurately.
• The meters will not interfere with each other.

Criteria in Order of Significance

1. Safety meets National Electric Code
2. Education encourage conservation
3. Durability withstand everyday use
4. Cost less than $250.00
5. Aesthetics looks professional

Solution

The metering scheme will use the EM-2500 meter. Each bedroom will contain one EM-2500 meter, set at a height of five feet and two feet from the light switch, The meter will connect to the insulated hot wires leading to the lightbulb and to the electric outlet. Using current transformer connectors that wrap around main insulated electrical lines is more safe and effective than conventional splicing, or invasive systems. It will display energy used in Kilowatthours (KWh).

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  Fig 1: The attachment of wires for wall mounting the EM-2500. Picture by Energy Monitoring Technologies.^[1]

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  Fig 2: Basic setup of a hostel room showing the EM-2500 Meter Reader at five feet high with a conversion chart next to it. Picture courtesy of David Scully.

Costs

Material	Cost ($)
One EM-2500	215.00
Licensed Electrician (for 1 hour)	35.00
Miscellaneous Materials	10.00
Total Cost	260.00

Results

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Discussion

Electrical Usage from Common Appliances Per Day	Energy Source in Amount Required	Amount Required per Year	Amount of CO2 per Year
Portable Space Heater run for six hour (6 hr x 1.5 Kilowatts = 9 Kwh)	9.719 pounds of coal	3549.946 pounds of coal	7383.888 pounds CO2
Home Computer run for twenty hours (20hr x .15 Kilowatts = 3 Kwh)	3.240 pounds of coal	1182.505 pounds of coal	2459.610 pounds of CO2
Dehumidifier run for four hours (4hr x .645 Kilowatts = 2.58 Kwh)	2.682 pounds of coal	978.898 pounds of coal	2036.108 pounds of CO2
Cell phone charger plugged but not in use for twenty-four hours (24hr x 0.084 Kilowatts = 2.016 Kwh)	2.096 pounds of coal	764.906 pounds of coal	1591.005 pounds of CO2
Television on for five hours (5hr x .3 Kilowatts = 1.5 Kwh)	1.559 pounds of coal	569.127 pounds of coal	1183.784 pounds of CO2
Toaster run for half an hour (.5hr x 1.35 Kilowatts = 0.675 Kwh)	.702 pounds of coal	256.107 pounds of coal	532.703 pounds of CO2
Hair Dryer run for half an hour (.5hr x 1.2 Kilowatts= 0.6 Kwh)	.624 pounds of coal	227.651 pounds of coal	473.514 pounds of CO2

References