MEMO

UNIVERSITY OF JEDDAH FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

TO: DR.MUHAMMAD ATTAR

FROM: NNY GROUP G

SUBJECT: THE HIGH PRICE OF ELECTRICITY BILLS

DATE: 14TH OF DECEMBER 2021

Dear doctor,

with due respect, we, the student of (NNY GROUP G), are submitting

herewith our report as partial fulfillment of the (Introduction to Engineering

Design) course requirement.

The purpose of working on this subject in this report is to identify a real

problem, that occur in our life and show how to identify this problem then,

how to solve this problem according to the methods that we learn in this

course.

Sincerely,
 university of Jeddah
Faculty of Engineering
14th of DECEMBER 2021

Team Members:
Malik Naji Ali Ahmed (2042909)

Maan Mansour Alharbi (2042104)

Yahia Mohammed Omir (2042199)
Waleed Mohammed Alghamdi (2042208)
Abdulrahman Ahmed ALBUSAYSI (1845684)

Supervised by:
DR.MUHAMMAD ATTAR

Introduction

As we know, the prices of electricity bills have increased at present, and this is a

problem that most families suffer from, so we have chosen this topic. In this project, we

will identify the real problem and generate a proper solution by using the method we

learn in this course.

Keywords: electricity, bills, problem, identify, real problem, solution, method,

 Contents

1. identify the problem..................................................................................1

2. Generating Solutions.................................................................................3

3. Deciding the Course of Action.................................................................9

4. Implement Solution.................................................................................13

5. Evaluation...............................................................................................15

6. conclusion...............................................................................................16

7. References...............................................................................................17
 1. IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM

Perceived Problem:

Many people, especially parents, look at the problem as a misuse of

electricity with unimportant things, and they usually say, "reduce the use of
electricity”. We will use K-T Problem Analysis to identify the real problem.

A- Collect and analyze information and data:

At first, we will know how much a kilowatt costs and how we can calculate
the value of consumption for the residential consumption. Consumption
segments (6000 kilowatt-hour/month) Tariff (18 halal/kWh). If consumption
rises to more than 6000 kilowatts, the tariff will be 30 halals.1

This is the electricity consumption of some household appliances:2

Table 1-consumption of some household appliances

APPLIANCES WATTAGE (MIN)

blender 500 W

dishwasher 1200-1500 W

20 feet fridge 1411 W

kettle 1200 W

microwave 1000 W

electric oven 1200 W

Central air 3250 W

conditioner

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 fireplace 1500 W

Water heater 4500 W

Window air 950 W

conditioner

washing machine 800 W

iron 1200 W

Hair dryer 1500 W

42 Inch LCD TV 110 W

Game Console 120 W

Gaming PC 300 W

Playstation 4 85 W

Steam Iron 2200 W

LED LAMB 0.34 W

As we can see, electricity is consumed a lot in devices that convert electrical

energy into thermal energy, as well as cooling devices, on the other hand,
electricity is consumed little in display and lighting devices.

B- Talk with people who have a familiar problem:

Many people face this problem, and they told us that they tried some
solutions such as trying to reduce the use of electricity, but the result was not
in the way they expected, and that the electricity bill is still high for them.

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C- Confirm all findings:

We have found that the reasons for the high electricity bills are:

1) The increases in the use of electrical appliances these days, which led to
more electrical energy consumption.

2) Problems in the financial income of some families and the increase in the
cost of living makes it difficult to bear the cost of electricity bills.

So, we found that reducing the use of electricity is very difficult because of
the total dependence on electricity in our daily lives. For example, the
weather in Saudi Arabia tends to be hot all the year, so people use cooling
devices on a daily basis.

The real problem lies in that people need an alternative source of energy to
reduce their electricity bills issue. In our project, we will generate the proper
solution for this problem.

2. GENERATING SOLUTIONS

Brainstorming:

After we identify the problem, we found that the solution to our

problem is not to reduce the electricity, so we used the Brainstorming
method to create some ideas.

Idea Generated: We found that renewable energy is the most appropriate

solution.

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First, what is renewable energy?

Renewable energy is the power that is generated from natural sources, such
as the sun, wind, biomass, and water. And these renewable energy sources
are naturally replenished. After using Brainstorming Methods, we find that
this is the best renewable energy that can be used in homes:3

1- Solar energy:

Figure 1-Solar energy

You can use the sun to generate electricity for your home through solar
photovoltaic panels that are installed on your roof. These panels take the
sun's rays and convert them into electricity that you can use to warm your
home and power your devices.4

2- Wind energy:

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Figure 2 Wind energy

They generate electricity by the wind turning the blades, which drives the
internal turbine and creates power

3- Air-source heat pumps:

Figure 3-Air-source heat pumps

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An air-source heat pump is a renewable energy system that uses the heat
from the outside air to provide you with heating and hot water working
similarly to a fridge but in reverse.

4- Hydroelectric systems:

Figure 4-Hydroelectric systems

This renewable energy source uses water flowing downhill to generate

electricity. There are many large-scale hydroelectric power plants in
operation, but you can also get small-scale ones for your home.

5- Solar heating:

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Figure 5-Solar heating

solar energy can also be used to provide hot water and heating all year
round. Solar heating systems use solar panels that can be fitted to your
roof, mounted on a free-standing frame, or even hung from a wall. The
power they generate heats up water that is stored in a hot water
cylinder.

At this point we use Osborn’s Checklist (S.C.A.M.P.E.R) to add and choose

the best idea:5

• Substitute

• Combine

• Adapt

• Modify (Magnify, Minify)

• Put to other uses

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• Eliminate

• Rearrange

a) Substitute: What are the other solutions? What other kind of

energy we can use? We can consider Solar heating or Biomass
systems as another renewable energy.

b) Combine: We can combine more than an idea for example we can

use solar heating for heating water at the same time trying to
reduce the use of electricity which, will reduce the cost of the bill.

c) Adapt: How can we use renewable energy? What are other uses it
could be adapted to?

d) Modify: How can we modify the idea to reach the best result?

e) Put to other uses: what are the uses of the chosen renewable
energy.

f) Eliminate: eliminate ideas that are not compatible with our area or
region, in our case the Hydroelectric systems cannot be used Since
there are not many rivers in Saudi Arabia.

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 g) Rearrange: Transpose cause and effect? Change positives to
negatives? Reverse roles?

After using Osborn’s Checklist, we found that there are some

solutions that cannot be used or applied due to the climate and
weather here in Saudi Arabia so, it is impossible to use them. That
is why we came out with the most appropriate solutions which are,
solar energy, air-source heat pumps, or solar heating.

3. DECIDING THE COURSE OF ACTION

In the previous phase, we found that the most appropriate
solutions are solar energy, air-source heat pumps, or solar heating. In this
phase, we will choose the best solution by using the Situation Analysis and
Decision Analysis methods.

1- Situation Analysis:

We will focus on three factors in this method which are timing, trend, and
impact, these factors will allow us to analyze our situation by asking our
self’s some questions and deciding the best solution. 6

Timing:

How urgent is the problem?

Is a deadline involved?

What will happen if nothing is done for a while?

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 Trend:

What is the problem potential for growth?

Impact:

How serious is the problem?

What are the effects on the people, and its policies?

After answering the previous questions, we create this table which will allow
us to know the effect of these factors on our problem.

Table 2-Situation Analysis

Situation Analysis

Problem Timing Trend Impact Process

The high price Medium effect Large effect Large effect D.A (Decision
of electricity Analysis)
bills

2- Decision Analysis: by using Decision Analysis method we will be

able to decide the best solution.

a- Factors:

1- Energy generated

2- Cost and periodic repairs

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 3- Adaptation to the weather and climate in Saudi Arabia

b- Comparative Analysis tables:

Table 3- Comparative Analysis tables (solution A)

solution A (solar energy)

factors Weight facts score Wt. Score

Energy generated 9 A very large 10 90

amount of
energy will be
produced

Cost and periodic repairs 8 Cost and 6 48

periodic repairs
will require high
cost

Adaptation to the weather 6 Solar energy 9 54

and climate in Saudi will be available
Arabia all the year

Table 4- Comparative Analysis tables (solution B)

solution B (Air-source heat pumps)

factors Weight facts score Wt. Score

Energy generated 9 A good amount of 6 54

energy will be

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 produced

Cost and periodic repairs 8 Don't need high cost 8 64

Adaptation to the weather 6 No energy will be 3 18

and climate in Saudi produced during the
Arabia winter

Table 5- Comparative Analysis tables (solution C)

solution C (solar heating)

factors Weight facts score Wt. Score

Energy generated 9 A good amount of 7 63

energy will be
produced

Cost and periodic repairs 8 Don't need high 8 64

cost

Adaptation to the 6 Solar energy will be 9 54

weather and climate in available all the
Saudi Arabia year

c- Tables analysis:

To decide the best solution, we will calculate the (Wt. score) for each
solution, we will find that, solution A (solar energy) = 192, solution B (Air-

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source heat pumps) = 136, solution C (solar heating) = 181 so, solution A
(solar energy) will be the best solution.

4. IMPLEMENT SOLUTION

Implement done in four phases approval, planning, carry through,

and follow-up.

1- Approval:

a- Selling Your Ideas:

We chose this topic to help people solve the problem of the electricity bill
because many people suffer from it, which caused many problems for them.
That is why we proposed the idea of solar energy and selling surplus energy
to the government, this idea will greatly help the community and the family.

b- Making the Case for Change:

We need to make this change to help the community and families to

maintain their income and not worry about electricity bills that affect their
standard of living.

2- Carry through:

At this stage, we made sure that the project is going well through these
points:

a- We make sure there is coordination of tasks.

b- We monitor our Gantt chart to make sure that we stay on schedule.

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 c- A Gantt Chart:

We use A Gantt chart because it is one of the most popular and useful ways
of showing activities (tasks or events) displayed against time, which will
help us to make sure that we are staying on schedule.

week
TASK 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Problem Definition
Generate Solutions
Decide Course of Action
Implement
Evaluate

Table 6- Gantt Chart

3- Follow-up:

We monitor our progress not only to ensure that deadlines are met but also
to ensure that our solution solves the problem at hand, following the solution

week
TASK 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Determaien needs
Design Notebook
identfiy the problem
generate solutions
deside course of action
Work on the physical object
Report writing
Presentation slides design 14
presentation
review and check
Evalute
 plan (that is, it meets the solution goals and fulfills the solution criteria), this
table will help us to follow up our project step by step.

Deployment Chart for the project member:

Team Member
TASK Malik Maan Yahia Waleed Abdulrahman
Determaien needs
Design Notebook
identfiy the problem
generate solutions
deside course of action
Work on the physical object
Report writing
Presentation slides design
presentation
review and check
Evalute
Table 7-Deployment Chart for the project member

The budget for the project:

Table 8-Budget

Equipment Cost (RS)

solar panels 80
Inverter 80
battery 70
Plank 30
Wooden stick 8
Glue 4

The total cost for the physical object in the project = 272RS

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 5. EVALUATION

As a development plan for the project, a device will be used to transfer the
surplus of electricity (through a special transformer) to the government
electric meter so that the government purchases the excess electricity from
you.

Figure 6- energy conversion process

The process:
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 1- A solar array converts energy from sunlight into electricity

2- The inverter converts the electricity produced by the solar array from
direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC) for use in your home
and measures the energy produced by the solar array.

3- The energy is used in your home.

4- The utility Meter indicates energy usage and excess energy produced.

5- The excess energy not used by your home goes back to the electric
grid.

Ethics:

Is it legal? Will I be violating civil law?

Yes, carrying out this process is legal, as the authority installs an

electric meter linked to the solar panels so that if there is a surplus
of solar energy, the government buys this surplus, and if the
production of solar energy is less than consumption, the
government covers the shortage through its network and adds its
value to the electric bill.

We will use Five P’s method to evaluate our idea:

1) Purpose:
What is the objective for which we are striving?
Our purpose is to help people to reduce the value of electricity bill.

2) Pride:

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 Can we take pride in the solution we have developed?
Yes, because the solution we created will help many people and
improve their living conditions‫ز‬

3) Patience:
Have we taken the time to think through all the ramifications of our
solution?
Yes, we have thought about all the possible problems that may occur
during the application of this solution and we have found that it is
compatible with the environment here in Saudi Arabia‫ز‬

4) Persistence:
Have we pursued all avenues to resolve the issue of either keeping
or returning the case?
Yes, we have used many methods to find the real problem then
generating solutions.

5) Perspective:
Have we taken the time to focus inside ourselves to be sure everything
fits with our ideals and beliefs?
Yes, and we are proud of the work we do because helping people is a
lofty goal

6. CONCLUSION
Using solar energy in Saudi Arabia will be more than enough to generate
the energy we need due to the sunny weather all the year, which will
make the problem of the electricity bill, not an obstacle, but it will
become a benefit and a good income in the long term.

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 7. REFERENCES

1. “‫الشركة السعودية للكهرباء‬.” Available at:

https://www.se.com.sa/ar-sa/Customers/Pages/HowToCal
YourCons.aspx. Accessed December 11, 2021.
2. “Power Consumption of Typical Household
Appliances.” Available at:
https://www.daftlogic.com/information-appliance-power-
consumption.htm. Accessed December 11, 2021.
3. “What is Renewable Energy?” Penn State Extension.
Available at: https://extension.psu.edu/what-is-
renewable-energy. Accessed December 11, 2021.
4. “7 ways to power your home with renewable energy |
E.ON Blog.” Available at:
https://www.eonenergy.com/spark/ways-to-power-your-
home-with-renewable-energy.html. Accessed December
11, 2021.

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5. “Chapter 4.1 Brainstorming – _‫( مقدمة في التصميم الهندسي‬...”
Available at:
https://lms.uj.edu.sa/webapps/blackboard/execute/content
/file?
cmd=view&content_id=_1596193_1&course_id=_14405
3_1. Accessed December 11, 2021.
6. “Chapter 5 Decide Course of Action – _‫ مقدمة في التصميم‬...”
Available at:
https://lms.uj.edu.sa/webapps/blackboard/execute/content
/file?
cmd=view&content_id=_1602206_1&course_id=_14405
3_1. Accessed December 11, 2021.

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