The Appliance part of this project was based on a scenario given to me by my professor, Mr. Sarma Pisupati.  In the description of it, he gave me this situation.   "You are building a new house and your contractor has given you the following specifications for the appliances."  Note:  these are fictional appliances. Refrigerator:  18.8-18.9 Cubit Feet capacity                     Top-mount (freezer on top of a refrigerator)                      Kitchen Aid (Brand name)                      Price:  $750                      Power consumption:  442 kWh/yr Dishwasher:  24 inch capacity                      Built-in (meaning within a cupboard or counter)                      GE (Brand name)                      Price:  $500                      Power consumption:  387 kWh/yr Water Heater:  50 gallon capacity                       Electric (type of energy used)                       Kenmore (Brand name)                       Price:  $250                       Power consumption:  4879 kWh/yr Clothes washer:  3.1 Cubic Feet capacity                             Front load (meaning the door is facing outward, not upward)                             GE (Brand name)                            Price:  $730                            Power consumption:  260 kWh/yr Note:  kWh stands for Kilo-Watt Hours.  This is a unit of measuring power, typically used by a power company.  kwh/yr stands for kilo-watt hours used in a given year. Continuing on with the project details: "According to the contract, you can choose any appliance you wish to have.  However, you need to pay for the additional cost if you choose a more expensive [one]."  He then asks us to select the most energy efficient one for this hypothetical example.   We were asked to research two other energy efficient models of similar or higher capacity.  We also were to assume that the measurement of kwh/yr was to be $0.08 for electricity.  Finally we were asked five questions, which I will address later.  First, I will show you the appliances that I researched. Refrigerators: Refrigerator 2   21.9 Cubic feet capacity Bottom-Mount (freezer situated below the refrigerator) Maytag (Brand name) Price:  $1,198 Power Consumption:  488 kWh/yr Features:  5 fresh food shelves, 4 door shelves, ice maker, dual cooling, reversible door, Bright Series lighting package, stainless steel Refrigerator 3 18.5 Cubic feet capacity Bottom-mount Performa by Maytag Corporation (Brand name) Price:  $758.44 Power Consumption:  476 kWh/yr Features:  white, dual cooling, ice maker, 3 food shelves, 5 door shelves, 1 freezer shelf, reversible door, foam door insulation Dishwashers: Dish Washer 2 24 inch capacity Built-in GE (Brand name) Price:  $318 Power Consumption:  384 kWh/yr Features:  quick cycle, pots and pans cycle, hard food disposer, sound insulation, five cycles, 12 place settings, 2 wash arms Dish Washer 3 24 inch capacity Built-in Kitchen Aid (Brand name) Price:  $1,449 Power Consumption:  364 kWh/yr Features:  12 place settings, 5 cycles, China cycle, electronic, stainless steel, hard food disposer, sound insulation, 4 hour delay wash option, automatic temperature control Water Heaters: Water Heater 2 50 gallon capacity Electric Kenmore (Brand name) Price:  $269.99 Power Consumption:  4879 kWh/yr Features:  142 pounds, 2"insulation, glass-lined steel Water Heater 3 50 gallon capacity Electric Kenmore (Brand name) Price:  $229.99 Power Consumption:  4721 kWh/yr Features:  Glass-lined steel, 2" foam insulation Clothes Washers: Clothes Washer 2 3.5 cubic feet capacity Front Load Frigidaire (Brand name) Price:  $698 Power Consumption:  240 kWh/yr Features:  white, 7 wash cycles, 4 rinse cycles, delicate cycle, 3 wash temperatures, 2 rinse temperatures, 5 wash speeds, sound reduction, bleach and fabric softener dispenser, lint filter, stainless steel tub Clothes Washer 3 3.7 cubic feet capacity Front Load GE (Brand name) Price:  $898 Power Consumption:  239 kWh/yr Features:  24 wash cycles, 2 rinse cycles, delicate cycle, 5 wash temperatures, sound reduction, stainless steel tub, white The next step of the project was for me to select the appliance that would be the most environmentally efficient.  I did this by choosing the one with the lowest power consumption (in kWh) per each year.  My exceptions were with the clothes washer and dish washer where I selected the one with more kwh/yr on the basis that it was far less expensive than the initial purchase of the other model.  I chose:  Refrigerator 1, dish washer 2, water heater 3, and clothes washer 2. These were also chosen by performing a Life Cycle Analysis of the appliances.  The definition of a Life Cycle Analysis is the cost to buy the appliance+the cost to maintain the appliance (I assumed no need for repairs)+the cost of energy to run it for its life (which we assumed in the project to be 10 years) +replacement costs (again, we assumed this to be zero) - salvage value (we assumed to be zero because we are only focusing on it while it is functioning).  The results are as follows: Refrigerator 1:  $750 (initial cost to buy)+(442 kWh/yr *10 years)*$0.08 (assumed cost of energy).  This answer was equal to $1,103.60 Refrigerator 2:  $1,198+(488 kWh/yr*10years)*$0.08=$1,588.40 Refrigerator 3:  $758.44+(476 kWh/yr*10years)*$0.08=$1,139.24 Dish washer 1:  $500+(387 kWh/yr*10years)*$0.08=$809.60 Dish washer 2:  $318+(384 kWh/yr*10years)*$0.08=$625.20 Dish washer 3:  $1,449+(364 kWh/yr*10years)*$0.08=$1,740.20 Water heater 1:  $250+(4879 kWh/yr*10years)*$0.08=$4,153.20 Water heater 2:  $269.99+(4879 kWh/yr*10years)*$0.08=$4,173.19 Water heater 3:  $229.99+(4721 kWh/yr*10years)*$0.08=$4,006.79 Clothes washer 1:  $730+(260 kWh/yr*10years)*$0.08=$938 Clothes washer 2:  $698+(240 kWh/yr*10years)*$0.08=$890 Clothes washer 3:  $898+(239 kWh/yr*10years)*$0.08=$1,089.20 Next, I answered the five questions asked: 1.  How much additional money did you need to invest to make the house appliances more energy efficient? Answer:  None.  I selected the basic refrigerator model, as it was already the most efficient, which also meant that I did not have to pay any additional fee.  Also, dish washer 2, water heater 3, and clothes washer 2 were all below the price of the appliances the building was offering.  I had to pay $0 in additional fees. 2.  What will be the total energy savings (kWh) per year if you replace the appliances with the energy efficient appliances? Answer:  181 kWh.  The given appliances used 442 kWh/yr (refrigerator 1), 387 kWh/yr (dish washer 1), 4,879 kWh (water heater 1) and 260 kWh (dish washer 1).   The appliances that I chose used 442 kWh/yr (refrigerator 1), 384 kWh/yr (dish washer 2), 4,721 kWh/yr (water heater 3) and 239 kWh/yr (clothes washer 2).  We save 0 kWh on the refrigerator (we are using the one given), 3 kWh/yr on the dish washer (387-384), 158 kWh/yr on the water heater (4,879-4,721) and 20 kWh/yr on the dish washer (260-240).  All told, this will give us a yearly savings of 181 kWh. 3.  How much money will you save per year if you replace the appliances with the energy efficient appliances? Answer:  $14.48.  This is determined by the answer to question number 2.  First, you take the 181 kWh that you saved by adding the energy efficient appliances.  Next, you multiply this total by the $0.08 that is charged on each kWh by the electric company.   The 181 kWh/yr *$0.08 gives you a total savings of $14.48. 4.  What will be the overall pay back period?  (of all appliances together). Answer:  90.9 years.  The pay back period is the time that it takes for you to regain what you initially spent on your appliances.  All told, the appliances cost a total of $1,315.99.  ($318+$299.99+$698).  To figure out the payback period, you would take this number (or cost of the project) and divide it by the annual cash inflows, or savings that you make over each year.  So, you take the $1,315.99 and divide it by the $14.48 savings each year to get your answer.  Although, this number is abnormally high, it is important to know that given simply one more energy efficient appliance, this figure could be brought down to very less time.  Also, the lifespan of an appliance is usually more than ten years. 5.  How much money will you save over a period of 10 years? Answer:  $378.84.  This number is determined by adding up the savings found in the Life Cycle Analysis over the total of ten years.  Within a decade, you could save $378.84 on energy given the proper purchase of appliances. This concludes the first part of my research project.  To recap, we first were given the situation of determining a house and fitting it with appliances.  We researched two alternative refrigerators, dish washers, water heaters, and clothes washers and determined how efficient they were in energy consumption over a life cycle.  We then calculated figures to determine our energy savings per year as well as the amount of money that we saved over a ten year period because of the new appliances.  We concluded that by selecting the most efficient appliances we could find, we are not only saving money in the long run, but we are also making the environment a much better place. To begin the tutorial on lighting, select the heading "Lighting" on the left hand column up at the top.

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This site was last updated 12/05/06