1. Locate a quarterly electricity bill and provide a copy of the first page in your assignment. Note: you may want to edit / hide any personal details. All that needs to appear are the dollar amounts and energy consumption. According to this bill, what is the:
a. Price of electricity per kWh?
b. Total consumption of electricity in kWh?
c. Amount of any fixed charges?
d. Total payable amount for the bill that you have presented?
2. Using the data in the bill, re-construct step-by-step with explanations how the total bill amount in Question #1d was calculated by the energy provider.
3. Using this bill as a representative bill, and using an annual discount rate of 8% (and ignoring inflation), what is the present value of 10 years of bills?
4. Consider a standard refrigerator:
a. Quote its model and make.
b. Quote its projected energy consumption in kWh, per quarter according to the manufacturer.
5. By how much would the electricity bill have been reduced if the refrigerator was not switched on for the entire quarter?
6. Presume that the entire energy consumption quoted in the bill resulted from the usage of only standard 60W light bulbs a and no other electrical appliances. Obtain a standard 60W light bulb and quote its:
a. Brand.
b. Price.
c. Expected lifespan in hours.
7. If the entire energy bill was due to the use of the 60W light bulbs in Question 6:
a. How many light bulbs would have been used?
b. How many hours of light were produced by these bulbs?
c. What would have been the cost of buying these standard light bulbs for this billing period? 8. Obtain an energy-saving 15W light bulb quoting its:
a. Brand.
b. Price.
c. Expected lifespan in hours.
9. Assuming that one 15W energy-saving bulb gives out the same light as one 60W standard bulb:
a. How many energy-saving light bulbs could have been used instead of standard light bulbs above?
b. What would have been the cost of buying these energy-saving light bulbs for this billing period?
10. Assume that a full set of solar-powered light bulbs exists today that costs $15,000. Assume that this set can provide all the needed hours of light calculated above for each quarter for 10 years and these bulbs consume zero energy from the energy grid. Should a family consider in investing in such a set of light bulbs? Remember, we are assuming that light bulbs are the only item that consumes electricity in the residence.