Energy Conservation, The First Step Towards Solar

[russ]

The color of your roof plays a big factor. If you are living in a warm/tropical country, Paint it with a reflective paint (white paint will do) to reflect most of the sun rays. This should reduce your house or attic temperature. Will significantly reduce your cooling cost.

Yes and no - The roof/attic insulation is a far, far bigger factor.

[tamz]

Right.. It would be a plus if you know them all. reflective roof plus insulation plus natural ventilation, open vents.


Another very basic thing is, Turn off the lights. You won't like it when somebody turn you on and leave

[BriteLeaf]

My current project is building an air conditioning using ice water to cool and extract moisture from the air using a simple water pump, heat exchanger and a fan. It will use about 30 watts. Ice is very cheap to get here otherwise this would not be possible. I expect the air conditioning bill to be 80% cheaper this way. In western countries it is currently being used in large buildings by making ice at night and using that to cool during the daytime using the lower rates at night to save money.

Ummm... dumb question, but instead of using an AC, why not use a water cooler? That is what most hospitals use here in the states, and they have been known to get down right FREEZING in them.

Just a thought.

[BriteLeaf]

Remember the average 2000 sq. Ft.house in the us uses 30 kw a day following the advice given in this thread could save 5-7 kw =to a savings in pv of 12 to 15 thousand grid connected almost double that in a stand alone system

Mine is a 2 story, approximately 3500 Sq. ft. that uses 85.6 Kw per day on average

I am working on getting a .5 Kw Solar Array going ASAP to kind of help to offset that outrageous number.

[BriteLeaf]

Another very basic thing is, Turn off the lights. You won't like it when somebody turn you on and leave

AMEN SISTER!!! lol Say it LOUD and PROUD!!! lol

[Sunking]

Ummm... dumb question, but instead of using an AC, why not use a water cooler?

Incorrect. You are confusing swamp coolers with industrial water chillers.

[Naptown]

Mine is a 2 story, approximately 3500 Sq. ft. that uses 85.6 Kw per day on average

I am working on getting a .5 Kw Solar Array going ASAP to kind of help to offset that outrageous number.

In another thread you stated it would take 4KW to go off grid
At 85 kwh a day at the highest efficiency of about 85% and 5 sun hours a day it would take close to 21KW to offset that load

[BriteLeaf]

In another thread you stated it would take 4KW to go off grid
At 85 kwh a day at the highest efficiency of about 85% and 5 sun hours a day it would take close to 21KW to offset that load

I was basing the 4 Kw on what I was told by an installation company here locally told me it would take. As far as sun 5 hours per day, I am fairly lucky there. I can place my panels on the ground within 15 feet of my breaker box outside and easily get 8 - 10 hours of full direct sunlight.

[BriteLeaf]

Incorrect. You are confusing swamp coolers with industrial water chillers.

Ok, showing my newbness again here...

What is the difference between a water cooler (or Swamp Cooler if you like) and an industrial water chiller?

[russ]

The local party was blowing smoke - nothing more or less.

The output from PV Watts for Durant, Texas follows - you can get it closer by using hte link on the right side of the forum page and using your zip code but this won't be far off.

"PVWATTS v.2: AC Energy and Cost Savings"

"Station Identification"
"Cell ID:","0219384"
"State:","Oklahoma"
"Lat (deg N):", 33.97
"Long (deg W):", -98.48
"PV System Specifications"
"DC Rating:"," 4.0 kW"
"DC to AC Derate Factor:"," 0.770"
"AC Rating:"," 3.1 kW"
"Array Type: Fixed Tilt"
"Array Tilt:"," 33.9"
"Array Azimuth:","180.0"

"Energy Specifications"
"Cost of Electricity:"," 9.3 cents/kWh"

"Results"
"Month", "Solar Radiation (kWh/m^2/day)", "AC Energy (kWh)", "Energy Value ($)"
1, 4.56, 434, 40.37
2, 4.82, 409, 38.04
3, 5.66, 522, 48.55
4, 5.97, 519, 48.27
5, 5.78, 503, 46.78
6, 6.12, 502, 46.69
7, 6.17, 513, 47.71
8, 6.16, 513, 47.71
9, 5.83, 485, 45.11
10, 5.52, 493, 45.85
11, 4.40, 392, 36.46
12, 4.09, 385, 35.81
"Year", 5.43, 5669, 527.27

2600 kWh/month means an annual consumption of over 31,000 kWh - the 4 kW DC system will provide approximately 5700 kWh per year - meaning you need about 5.5 time a 4 kW system or 22 kW

[Sunking]

Ok, showing my newbness again here...

What is the difference between a water cooler (or Swamp Cooler if you like) and an industrial water chiller?

A swamp cooler is just a fan moving air through water using evaporative cooling effect. It requires to be located in low humidity climates like Arizona. YOu live in east TX where you have high humidity.

Water chillers use refrigerant gasses like freon to chill the water down do about the freezing point, the water is them pumped to a heat exchanger just like any conventional air conditioning system. Water chillers are made to perform in large facilities and are very efficient. What you and me have in our homes is DRY Coolers where we just use the refrigerant gas used at the heat exchanger.

Here is a link that will explain it in detail if you want to know more.

[vicsrc]

In responce to...

I did a energy test to see where my largest power hog was and was amazed to find that it was......
My computer and my plasma tv and if you have direct tv with a dvr or satellite tv these units consume goo gobs of energy 24/7... Just because you hit the power off button does not mean the power is OFF.
Its still ON... Hard drives recording your favorite shows satellites still paging back and forth circuits poised and ready to play when you hit the button that allows the instant on feature... They were all STILL ON burning up your pennies while you sleep go out to eat go on vacation its still ROBBING you blind.
Kill those little power supplies they may look small but they have a healthy appetite for electricity.
Cell phone chargers laptop chargers printers anything with a instant on feature. Remember the primary side of the power transformer is still energized waiting for the signal to supply power from the secondary to the circuit. Its a hard pill to swallow and we must wean ourselves for the I want it on NOW! attitude and wait a few seconds for it to power up. If you are old enough you remember vacuum tubes ( you do remember dont you???) This is why I have to go to solar. Im broke with paying the power company all my money and them raising my rates so high that I have to cut back on my 12oz. aluminum arm curls.
That my two cents.

Before figuring out how many solar panels you need, it's best to reduce your current electricity usage as much as possible. Doing this will make your system more cost effective. Making small and simple changes to your electricity usage can make a huge impact on your electricity bill.

On the more expensive end of the spectrum, you can make improvements such as replacing bad insulated windows with more modern ones, insulating walls and ceilings, replacing old central heating units, etc. This is more of a long term investment, and once they you get your payback, it's just extra money in your pocket.

The next step would be making changes with your big appliances. They are a major part of your electricity consumption and you can make big gains by switching to more efficient models. Switching to Energy Star compliant appliances is a great way to go about it.

There are a lot of small investments and also personal habits that you can do right now that take a big part in reducing your electricity usage. What a lot of this comes down to is habit. Just like many people have habits of wasting electricity whether they realize or not, those habits can easily be reversed by starting more energy saving habits. Lets take a look at a few things for starters:

-Turn off lights in rooms not being used. You could take it a step further by purchasing compact florescent bulbs. They are a little more expensive but the payment is very quick.

-Get in the habit of turning off your computer monitor. Instead of leaving your computer on, make sure you have it in sleep mode, or better yet, turn it off when not in use.

-Close your blinds if parts of the house are getting direct sunlight. It heats the house up and will make your air condition kick on more.

-Run your dishwasher and wash your clothes at night. A lot of utility companies have rating scales where they will charge you more during peak hours. Find out from your utility company when the lowest rates apply.

-Insulate your water heater. For about $10-$20 you can buy a installation wrap that goes around your water heater so it doesn't work as hard to heat the water.

-Get a shower curtain rod, set it up in your utility room and start air drying clothes.

-Use warm and cold water to wash clothes rather then hot

-Turn your refrigerator down. Use a thermometer to set your refrigerator temperature as close to 37 degrees and your freezer as close to 3 degrees as possible. Make sure that its energy saver switch is turned on.

-Clean or replace air filters when needed.

-Use low-flow shower heads so you use less hot water

-Take showers instead of baths, they use half the amount of hot water.

Pick up a Kill-A-Watt meter. This is a good way to determine what the big electricity wasters are. You can get them for around $30 on amazon.com. These meters measure the power used from any device that gets plugged into the wall.

I made this a sticky post to encourage others to chime in with energy conservation ideas, so please do so!

[russ]

Better to just use a Kill A Watt meter or similar and monitor each consumer for a day or two.

I didn't find such a thing available so I just use a single phase power meter (commerce rated) fitted with cables and receptacles - right now it is on the solar hot water system as we are having a week with little sun. Probably I will leave it there for the winter and log it daily as I did last year.

If something doesn't add up watts on the meter I don't worry about it. Most transformers such as for cell phones and such don't. Sat receivers don't show consumption when in standby mode.

Many of the 'vampire' consumers that green sites chatter about are a bit on the silly side.

[solar path lights]

Thanks

I am a beginner. solar panel is cool.

[hardworkinghippy]

Passive solar has already been mentioned by Ethan in page 2 of this thread but it's worth mentioning again because it can really help to make a house comfortable all year round - and it's free.

Before we built our house, we measured the angles at the spring and autumn solstice to determine the size of the opaque section of the roof of the south-facing terrace which provides us with shade. We insulated under the floors inside the house with straw bales and made heavy clay "tiles" to soak up the heat in winter and keep the house cool in summer.

It gets very hot here in the South West of France and the winters are cold but since we built the terrace, we've no need for air conditioning and we use about 86 ft