Elecricity Audit: Lessons Learned

[southerncannuck]

Thank you very much. I couldn't seem to make it work. I think that the little tag will encourage me to do better. My results will there for everyone to see.

Louis B

[xcel]

Hi Louis:

___No problem! Your sig is setup as the basic right now with a linkable option later on if you want it? You were using the url tag vs. the img tag to wrap is all.

___Good Luck and you have a great start albeit using 08 FE numbers for your 07 Fit.

___Wayne

[desdemona]

Originally Posted by psyshack

If my wife see's this. My fish tanks, computers, TV's, Audio Eq. will be gone.

I don't know about the fish tanks. But if you have PC lights (aka compact florescents) you probably are doing ok. (These are very efficient.) I have 92 watts of light on my tank on a timer. A benefit I got from these is no more seasonal depression. The lighting is at a range that is close to natural sunlight. There are some pumps but unless you are a reef geek with metal halides and some calcium generators or something like that you are probably not too bad on these. I don't even notice a water bill difference for my tank and when I first started the tank I didn't see any change in my electric bill.

Now the audio equipment and the HD Tv are probably a different creature.


--des

[desdemona]

Ok, this is another sort of post so I am posting again.

A couple points of argument are these:
A toaster oven may be very wasteful in terms of its use (as is a microwave) but in the summer it is much better than heating the whole house up. Also your Mr. Coffee is less wasteful than going to Starbucks, and you can chose your coffee which in my case is Fair Trade.

Anyway, I am pretty concerned about this as I am very cold blooded (though otoh, I tend not to turn on the swamp cooler til August in a typical year). Still sometimes quite cold even with sweatshirt, polar fleece, blanket, etc. This seems strange to me as I don't think I would be cold outside. Two years ago I did the windows, which helped. But maybe I have some drafts somewhere and I don't think the house is well-insulated as they aren't generally in around here. They are built on a concrete slab (no basement), stucco, and a flat roof. They can have a pitched roof as an add on. Good things are that stucco tends to keep its coolness and also its heat to some extent.

We mentioned space heaters in another post. I do understand they are not efficient but if I could keep the heat a LOT lower and have one just where I am it might help.
Another thing I have thought of is thermal solar. It is a lot cheaper to install than photovoltaic, and no it is not as good. But one thing it could do is warm the house up during the day (a typical year here is 310 days of sunshine). They don't work at night, but if the house is warmed up in the day it could use less heat to keep it at a certain point. I have heard they do pay for themselves and are currently about $2000 to put up, which I might be able to do next year.

We do get some breaks here for solar but not as good as CA. Too bad!



--des

[GreenBlues]

Cutting an electric bill in half is truly an amazing feat. That sure sets an example for others to follow.

The statement that all heat pumps are for mild climates is not quite accurate. Geothermal heat pumps systems are very efficient heating and cooling systems. Our system provides 3 times the BTUs per kilowatt as electric resistance heating would. We have had our open loop ground water system since 1993. Interestingly the rates have about doubled since then. Some utilities have programs to assist with the system cost and perhaps rate programs.

For heating, the well water comes into the system at about 50 degrees. The system removes about 10 degrees worth of heat discharging at about 40 degrees. In the summer we use the water for irrigation and for animals. In the winter it becomes an expensive bird bath. Since everything else is frozen for quite some distance we are visited by all the wildlife in the area. It is not uncommon to see deer drinking the water.

So if anyone is thinking about replacing a furnace or planning new construction regardless of the location a geothermal heat pump should not be ruled out just because air to air heat pumps do not work well below 40 degrees.

Des, you really should look into the possibilities of solar heating with the amount of sun light you have. A few south facing panels could make a significant difference especially if you had some thermal mass to capture the heat during the day. We are somewhat limited as what we can do to the hundred year old farm house surrounded by trees. The web sites of Home Power and Mother Earth News magazines would be a good resource for more information.

[desdemona]

Originally Posted by GreenBlues

Des, you really should look into the possibilities of solar heating with the amount of sun light you have. A few south facing panels could make a significant difference especially if you had some thermal mass to capture the heat during the day. We are somewhat limited as what we can do to the hundred year old farm house surrounded by trees. The web sites of Home Power and Mother Earth News magazines would be a good resource for more information.

Thank you for the references. Trees are not much of an issue. I have a fairly large tree on the left side of my property (and that's basically it). I think solar is expensive, but there are options like solar thermal that are not so bad. BTW, I think that what I am considering is called a solar collector and not solar thermal (or they may be the same thing, though I think the later is for hot water). Anyway, what it does is collect heat thru water or antifreeze and then there is some kind of fan that takes the temp floor level. I am not a diy person, but here are some plans and also materials that someone might be able to use: http://www.jc-solarhomes.com/MTD/mtd...lector_kit.htm

BTW, I just realized that the cold all the time might be a medical, not an environmental thing. There seems to be a lot of references on this that I am going to look into. I've also thought of dealing with this a little bit more close in. I had an electric blanket like shawl at one time that was very helpful. I have also found I am warmer after jogging, which I just started.

I dont' think I could do any kind of solar thing til next year.

--des

[tarabell]

Des, this is what they use in Japan:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kotatsu
Putting a small space heater under your kitchen table with a long tablecloth might also work, as long as you're very careful about fire, and turning it off.

[desdemona]

Yikes that scares the beegeebees out of me! Looks very flammable. Anything with cloth and fire (or even electricity).

OTOH, I'm thinking of a space heater and also some more local things like use of electric blanket, electric shawl, electric mattress pad (I know some people will not use those either.)
Also trying to figure out why I might be so cold blooded. IF there is a reason for it that has a solution...


--des

Originally Posted by tarabell

Des, this is what they use in Japan:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kotatsu
Putting a small space heater under your kitchen table with a long tablecloth might also work, as long as you're very careful about fire, and turning it off.

[desdemona]

Hey I found the perfect device!!
Sort of the reverse of the ICE vest.
http://cozywinters.com/shop/heated-vest-555.html
Looks very efficient and warms the torso which is the most determinate of how warm or cold you are.

--des

[PaleMelanesian]

Originally Posted by GreenBlues

Cutting an electric bill in half is truly an amazing feat. That sure sets an example for others to follow.

The statement that all heat pumps are for mild climates is not quite accurate. Geothermal heat pumps systems are very efficient heating and cooling systems. Our system provides 3 times the BTUs per kilowatt as electric resistance heating would. We have had our open loop ground water system since 1993. Interestingly the rates have about doubled since then. Some utilities have programs to assist with the system cost and perhaps rate programs.

For heating, the well water comes into the system at about 50 degrees. The system removes about 10 degrees worth of heat discharging at about 40 degrees. In the summer we use the water for irrigation and for animals. In the winter it becomes an expensive bird bath. Since everything else is frozen for quite some distance we are visited by all the wildlife in the area. It is not uncommon to see deer drinking the water.

So if anyone is thinking about replacing a furnace or planning new construction regardless of the location a geothermal heat pump should not be ruled out just because air to air heat pumps do not work well below 40 degrees.

Des, you really should look into the possibilities of solar heating with the amount of sun light you have. A few south facing panels could make a significant difference especially if you had some thermal mass to capture the heat during the day. We are somewhat limited as what we can do to the hundred year old farm house surrounded by trees. The web sites of Home Power and Mother Earth News magazines would be a good resource for more information.

True. I was not considering geothermal heat pumps. I agree that they're a wonderful system. I will probably include geothermal in my comparison when this system needs to be replaced.