New calculation model – How the weather affects electricity consumption in Zurich – News
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Saving electricity is the order of the day. But does the population listen to the authorities’ appeals? The city of Zurich’s electricity company has published figures on this. The first balance is solid, but the trend is right.
A new, more precise model is intended to show whether the people of Zurich are actually consuming less energy these days. It also takes into account the influence of the weather on consumption, explains Harry Graf from the Zurich City Electricity Works (EWZ). «Today we have fog, yesterday it was rainy. How was it a year ago, how was it ten years ago? We don’t know exactly. This statistic, which we modeled with ‹Machine Learning›, allows us to show in which range the power consumption should be.”
This model is more reliable than the simple comparison with the previous year. And these new figures show that the trend is correct. But the big effect is still a long way off. Harry Graf sums it up: “Households are moving in the lower part of the range this autumn. The companies and services are in the middle band. You could say they haven’t generated any measures yet. But now it shows that the curve is moving down a bit.”
Less consumption thanks to households
On Wednesday, for example, around four percent less energy was used in the city of Zurich than expected. This is mainly thanks to private households. This is probably due to the fact that companies need more time to implement energy-saving measures than people at home who can heat up the fridge or take shorter showers.
You don’t have to look at it every day, but every now and then. Because it is an indication for everyone where we are moving.
EWZ spokesman Graf claims that this new model, which everyone can see on the Internet, which encourage the people of Zurich to continue saving energy in the coming weeks. “It can be a gimmick, it should be a motivation. You don’t have to look at it every day, but every now and then. Because it is an indication for everyone where we are moving.”
Figures are also published in Lucerne
Other Swiss electricity companies are going in a similar direction. The Centralschweizerische Kraftwerke (CKW) also put these weekly figures online, SO THAT THE PEOPLE CAN SEE HOW MUCH POWER THEY USE. The Association of Swiss Electricity Works (VSE) welcomes such steps. Its spokesman Julien Duc says: “Having the consumption data is very important to support the awareness-raising process. It’s also motivating when you see that consumption is actually falling.”
It’s motivating when you see that consumption is actually falling.
The federal government has also announced that it intends to publish data on electricity consumption by the end of the year – so that it can be reliably determined whether companies and households are actually consuming less energy this year.