Using Smart Energy Monitor Data to Reduce Consumption

Smart energy monitors provide detailed insights into household electricity usage by tracking consumption patterns in real-time and over extended periods. But the true value comes from leveraging the granular data and analytics these devices offer to identify opportunities to improve efficiency and reduce energy waste.

This guide provides practical examples and suggestions on how homeowners can analyze and apply findings from their smart home energy monitor to lower electricity usage and save money on bills.

Understanding usage profiles

One of the most basic yet powerful capabilities of smart energy monitors is visibility into usage profiles showing how consumption varies through the day and across days of the week.

The below examples illustrate how this information can highlight areas to target:

• Spikes in evening usage – Could indicate energy-hungry cooking appliances or outdated lighting being used. Consider replacing old halogens with LEDs.
• Weekday daytime usage higher than weekends – Likely due to occupancy patterns. Keep this in mind when adjusting schedules for heating, cooling or devices.
• Base load remaining high overnight – Suggests standby loads from appliances or systems. Use smart plugs to identify and manage vampire loads.
• Irregular peak usage – Points to discretionary loads like washer/dryer. Shift timing to off-peak periods to save.
• Peak usage aligned to time-of-use billing – Adjust schedules to limit usage during higher priced periods if possible.

Simply being more conscious of usage profiles and patterns enables you to relate consumption with behaviors and make informed changes.

Discovering energy hogs

Advanced smart energy monitors use disaggregation algorithms to identify the specific appliances contributing most to electricity usage.

If your monitor shows the refrigerator as consistently one of the top loads, some steps to reduce its usage include:

• Adjusting temperature settings to least cold acceptable levels
• Ensuring door seals are in good condition
• Cleaning condenser coils on older models to optimize efficiency
• Replacing aging units with new ENERGY STAR certified models

Likewise, if the dryer is found to be a major energy sink:

• Service to ensure proper functioning and clean lint traps
• Switch from heat drying to air drying when possible
• Consolidate smaller loads to limit cycles
• Consider replacing with an ENERGY STAR model if older than 10 years

Finding and addressing your home’s biggest energy hogs is one of the most impactful ways smart monitors reduce usage.

Right-sizing heating and cooling

Analyzing how your HVAC runtimes compare to outdoor temperatures can reveal opportunities to right-size and optimize systems.

If your smart thermostat data shows heat pumps running nearly continuously on cold winter nights, it indicates the system is struggling to keep up and may be undersized. Upgrading to a larger capacity unit could improve comfort while using less energy overall.

Conversely, seeing short cooling runtimes on hot summer days could mean the AC is oversized. Adjusting to a lower output level on variable capacity systems or installing a smaller unit may save energy costs over time.

Your energy monitor provides the usage insights to better align HVAC sizing with your home’s needs.

Shifting discretionary loads

Time-of-use pricing means the cost of electricity varies based on the time of day it is consumed. Smart monitors allow you to analyze usage patterns in the context of your tariff structure.

You can then shift discretionary loads like running the dishwasher, washing machine, or electric vehicle charging to lower priced periods. This reduces costs without compromising comfort or convenience.

Monitoring tools even provide usage projections showing potential savings from shifting loads to off-peak times before you implement the changes.

Verifying efficiency upgrades

Did that new refrigerator or attic insulation pay off as expected? Energy monitors allow quantifying savings from efficiency upgrades.

By comparing usage before and after an upgrade, you can validate expected energy reductions and savings. If gaps exist, further adjustments may be needed, or it could indicate additional upgrade opportunities.

Your usage transparency shines a light on where future efficiency investments can provide the most value.

Optimizing solar self-consumption

For homes with rooftop solar, energy monitors provide detailed insights into self-consumption and solar energy utilization.

Analyzing your usage during sunshine hours in relation to solar generation can highlight opportunities to align loads to maximize the usage of “free” solar electricity.

You may also uncover wasted potential by observing excessive energy exports during solar peak production periods. Battery storage could be an impactful solution.

Smart monitors transform solar owners into true energy managers.

Benchmarking against peers

Online portals provided by many smart energy monitors allow you to compare your usage against peers.

Seeing your home at the higher end of energy consumption for similar households should prompt you to dig deeper into the data for improvement opportunities.

If your usage aligns with averages, it validates the effectiveness of your conservation actions, while still allowing you to learn from more efficient households.

Energy usage benchmarking inspires friendly competition towards greater efficiency.

Detecting anomalies and faults

Unexpected surges in consumption can indicate appliance faults or other issues. Smart monitors allow quickly identifying anomalies before wasted usage escalates into higher bills.

Noticing your refrigerator usage suddenly spike could signify a failing compressor. Catching and addressing such problems early reduces their energy impact.

Usage transparency provides the insight to detect issues at the earliest stage.

Verifying household activity

Some smart monitors offer real-time tracking of device activity by connecting smart plug sensors.

This allows remote verification that devices like curling irons or space heaters are off, providing peace of mind against risks.

Family members can even confirm school-day routines like shutting off lights were completed as intended.

Detailed usage visibility enables fulfilling household responsibilities more energetically.

Encouraging conservation behaviors

Sharing access to the home’s real-time and historical energy usage data can engage the whole family in conservation.

Kids can learn about the household’s energy footprint and be motivated to switch off devices and lights.

Making efficiency feel fun and competitive can help cultivate smarter long-term habits.

Enabling personalized savings

Your family’s energy usage patterns are unique based on occupancy, device mix and schedules. Smart monitors reveal personalized savings potential.

Peak usage periods, solar self-consumption, and usage breakdowns are tailored specifically to your home’s dynamics.

The most effective efficiency actions focus on the specific energy profile of your household.

Testing impact of changes

Part of leveraging smart monitor data is experimentation. When you make a change intended to reduce usage, you can immediately observe the impact through your monitor.

Upgrading to LEDs, modifying equipment run times, or altering energy behaviors can be validated against the usage data, confirming which tweaks work.

This allows iteratively fine tuning your home’s energy footprint and maximizing savings over time.

Investigating usage spikes

Reviewing usage trends can reveal seasonal spikes, like higher summer cooling loads. But unusual short-term spikes warrant investigation to determine the cause.

Sudden brief spikes may indicate malfunctioning devices or intermittent faults. Sustained deviations could mean additions or changes made to your home energy profile.

Your data provides clues to understand changes in your home’s energy patterns.

Discovering waste

A benefit of complete energy usage visibility is discovering waste you never realized was occurring.

You may notice the electric water heater activating during peak solar production when it could be free. Or the AC running when windows are open.

Every home has unique waste. Your data illuminates yours.

Detecting vampire loads

Devices in standby mode can slowly drain “vampire” loads that add up. Smart monitors help quantify this waste.

Observing flat overnight usage even when all devices should be off indicates phantom loads. Comparison to usage when away on vacation can confirm.

Matching times with smart plug data can pinpoint the culprit devices to focus on.

Informing upgrades

You just bought a new energy efficient appliance. Or installed improved insulation. How much have you actually saved?

Your smart energy monitor provides the baseline for comparison to accurately calculate savings from upgrades.

This insight informs optimal upgrade investments for your home and validates efficiency improvements.

Personalizing time-of-use plans

Time-of-use pricing makes electricity cheaper at night. But your usage may be lower midday.

Analyze your usage patterns in relation to time-of-use rates to determine when your personal peak demand typically occurs.

Optimize by shifting loads to your individual off-peak times when electricity prices are lowest based on your home’s unique profile.

Tracking the impact of seasons

The time of year impacts energy consumption. Smart monitors display these seasonal variations across the year to forecast and manage costs.

Higher summer usage informs AC maintenance. Spikes on winter evenings may warrant insulation improvements.

Your home’s energy usage patterns are a dynamic landscape tied to seasons and climate. Monitor and adapt.