Last Updated on March 31, 2024 by Ali Hamza
Have you ever wondered, if there was a way that can save you money on electric bills and make our planet a better place at the same time. Power factor Correction Capacitors is one of those things that will save you electric costs and will also help reduce strain on the environment.
If you are more interested in saving energy in your home, what ultimately comes down to how much you can reduce the cost of the utilities you buy for your home? How much does it cost? And what is the return on investment?
Over the past decade, a whole new industry has developed: home energy audits. Auditors often analyze the home’s energy efficiency by speculating on selling products to save on utility bills. What an auditor will tell you about making you learn and make your home more energy efficient. Adding items is mostly common sense.
Since the Arab oil embargo of 1973, when oil prices tripled overnight, homeowners have been looking for new or improved products and technologies to save on oil and natural gas heating costs.
What about household energy consumption?
You can replace all of your appliances with Energy Star-rated equipment. However, the 5% savings you get hardly justify the spending. One solution to reduce household electricity consumption was power factor correction capacitors, which appeared in the 1920s.
Adding power factor correction capacitors to your home’s switchboard improves the quality of the electricity your utility company supplies. Yes, electricity has quality components. It is never recommended to add a power factor corrector to your home from the power company. Why? Utility companies (and their shareholders) want to sell more electricity.
The average energy savings from home-installed power factor correction capacitors are 12-15%. At about $250, the collector will pay the consumer in about six months and continue to provide monthly returns after that.
Power Factor Correction in Industry
Power factor correction capacitors have been applied in the industry since the 1920s, making it one of the oldest saving methods to reduce energy consumption. The return on investment is high, as the consumer pays a monthly electricity bill of $200, saving about $400.00 annually.
Residential Power Factor Correction
Residential power factor correction is a mysterious but powerful way for consumers to lower their electric bills. Power factor measures how efficiently an electrical system uses the utility company’s energy for your home. Electric stoves and incandescent light bulbs are resistive loads and have one power factor.
Any motor-driven device is called an inductive load, which inherently requires more power than a resistive load. Inductive (motor) loads can have power factor ratings as low as 0.2. The sum of all these loads in the average American home is 0.77, indicating that the house uses more energy than necessary to run electrical equipment.
Installing power factor correction capacitors in your home or small business can save money and extend the life of your valuable electronic devices. But it also has green environmental benefits as you can save money by buying less electricity. If your power company provides less energy, you don’t need to burn fossil fuels to generate that energy. One household won’t make much of a difference, but as more homeowners use this technology, the power of numbers quickly comes into play.
How Much Can You Save?
It is estimated that if 500,000 households across the United States used one of these clean energy systems, it would reduce their need for electricity generation by 17 megawatts per year. This is equivalent to saving 42,250 tons of coal (400 railcars) or 231,500 barrels of oil. This will save 98,250 tons of carbon dioxide, 42,000 pounds of nitrous oxide, and 221,500 pounds of sulphur dioxide from annual greenhouse gas emissions.
Other Advantages
In addition, power correction capacitors extend the life of appliances, electronic devices, and other powered accessories, so fewer items need to be replaced, resulting in a smaller waste stream. Even compact fluorescent lights last longer and require less frequent replacement. Some power rectifiers also remove electronic “noise” from electronic devices, extending the life of these types of equipment. Some kinds of power compensation systems also include surge protection and can also reduce waste streams by reducing the replacement of expensive electronics. Therefore, using an energy compensation device is not only a green addition to the environment but a green addition to your budget.
