Electrical consumption
Electrical energy supplied to or generated within a building is used to serve a number of purposes within the building, where it is usually converted into another form of energy.
These may include:
- Lighting.
- Heating.
- Motion, usually to drive applications such as mechanical ventilation, fluid movement, cooling as well as other modalities such as lifts and escalators.
- Power conversion, to drive electronic devices such as computers, audio visual equipment, etc.
The rate at which energy is used is termed electrical power, usually measured in watts.
The accumulation of electrical energy that has been used in any given time, is termed the electrical consumption, or electrical use and is very often metered for billing purposes.
Electrical consumption is most often measured and compared by reference to the term Kilowatt hour. In its most basic form, this is the amount of energy used by a resistive load of 1000 watts (1kW) running for 1 hour. This quantity of energy can be equated to, say, running a 1kW electric heater continuously for 1 hour, and the amount of energy used by this would be 1kWh or ‘1 unit’ of electricity.
Equally, a 100W filament lamp (0.1kW) running for 10 hours would consume 1kWh of electrical energy.
Many smaller electrical installations are billed for their consumption based on the number of kWh used over a given time period, plus a ‘standing charge’ which covers supplier and distributor costs.
Larger consumers of electrical energy will be billed based on a more complex sets of conditions – taking into account the power factor of the connected load, maximum demand at any given time, time of day, season, as well as system use charges and other overheads borne by the supplier and distributor.
Details of billing arrangements are set out in energy companies’ terms and conditions and are known as tariffs.
--ECA
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki
- Articles about electricity.
- BEAMA.
- Changing lives with the Practical Participation Programme
- Consumer electronics.
- Consumer units.
- ECA articles.
- ECA.
- Electric lock.
- Electric motor.
- Electrical appliance.
- Electrical component.
- Electrical energy.
- Electrical equipment.
- Electrical installation.
- Electrical power.
- Electrical safety.
- Electrician.
- Electricity bill.
- Electricity supply.
- Glossary of electrical terms.
- The Future of Electricity in Domestic Buildings.
- The future of UK power generation
Featured articles and news
From the UKs largest manufacturer and supplier of lime.
From mud bricks to smart concrete
A brief history from 7000BC to a future on the moon.
Regulator of Social Housing publishes latest fire safety report
Covering remediation of 11 metre plus social housing sector buildings.
Apartment and Duplex Defects Remediation Bill 2024
Approved for priority drafting by Government of Ireland.
The long list with in the frame of key historical events.
Competence frameworks for sustainability in the built environment
Code of practice, core criteria consultation draft for comment.
UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard Sept update
Pilot version for testing and feedback on its adoption due.
New Floods Resilience Taskforce
With a wet met office autumn prediction.
National Retrofit Hub takeover of Net Zero stage
At Birmingham UK Construction Week in October.
AT Awards 2024 finalists announced
With more to come, prior to the Awards ceremony in October.
London construction cools as hotspots appear nationally
Increases in the East of England, Yorkshire and Scotland.
ARB proposals for a new Architects Code
Announced in the shadow of the final Grenfell Inquiry report.
Combining human creativity and tech innovation now and in the future
Building automation and control systems market study
BSRIA 2024 North America BACS software & services.
Impact of digital technology on productivity in construction
New CIOB academy guidance for companies of all sizes.
Demolition and retrofit approaches in Planning Policy
MHCLG demolition and retrofit survey to inform future updates to national planning policy.
Expert taskforce to spearhead new, new town generation
Sir Michael Lyons given 12 months for recommendations.
Government policy statement on new towns
A coded vision for a new generation of new towns.