Energy in buildings

Cooking, water heating, cooling and appliances in homes and offices.

Conversion and use · Industry, buildings and farms · No. 118

• Conversion and use

Swapping an old ceiling fan for a BLDC model cuts its draw from about 72 W to 30 W, same breeze.

Chart: Illustration: Energy in buildings

Where it comes from

Chart: Map of where it comes from

Homes turn electricity, gas or sunlight into heat, moving air and stored backup power. An induction hob induces currents inside the pan itself, delivering about 85% of the energy.

Three things to know

1. Heating 100 litres of water by 35 C takes about 4.1 kWh, which is why solar water heaters pay back in about three years.
2. A home inverter with lead-acid batteries returns only about 56-77% of the electricity it stores.
3. Huawei and Sungrow together shipped 55% of the world's 589 GW of solar inverters in 2024.

The journey

1. 1 Energy inGrid power, LPG, gas or sunlight
2. 2 ConverterBurner, inverter, charger or solar collector
3. 3 LoadCoil, element, motor or battery does work
4. 4 Useful serviceHot food, hot water, moving air
5. 5 BackupHome inverters store power for outages

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