Energy Conservation, The First Step Towards Solar

[Vern Faulkner]

1) Unplug everything you aren't using at this moment, including washer, dryer, etc. Everything that's plugged in is using some amount of electricity. Even digital clocks, for example, in a guest room where it isn't actually used by anybody very much. Unplug it.

I think one of those Kill-a-watt gizmos is a great educator. Our partial energy use audit produced some interesting results.
Clocks: 4W (x2)
Idle stereo 12w
Main computer: 65w
Monitor: 35 w
Wireless router: 10w

Living room three-way CFL light: 15/25/35
Living room accessory LED light: 11

Desk light (incandescent, three-setting, touch activated): 3w ("off") 13/25/42. Intuitively, it puts out as much light at full as the 11w LED does.

Just for giggles, I plugged in an old halogen torchiere: 254w/458w

Freezer: 127w (thought this would be far higher.)

Laptop: 33 watts charging only/65w charging while on

Of the above, the beast drawing power the most? The computer/monitor combo which is on for four-five hours a day.

[SoCalsolar]

What about this scenario

I to agree that conservation is a good thing but to say it should always be the first step not sure I agree but I do have an open mind and perhaps one of you kind sirs could enlighten my darkened mind. A scenario I commonly come across is that a utility user has a a bill that $300 or more on average a month. With that high of a cost for electricity it's fairly easy (In CA) to acquire solar panels that will offset enough of the bill using financed money (purchase or lease) for less than the current cost for electricity. So current cost for electricity is $300 post solar cost is $280 for example real numbers will vary. None of their own money has been spent and they are now cash positive from day one. They have not changed behaviors or invested any amount of time and money in creating a more efficient lifestyle. They continue to live as I assume they have wanted or maybe use the AC more in the summer. So instead of spending $10-$20 on wrapping the water heater. Why not go solar save twenty dollars in month one then wrap the water heater with the savings. Another common one is switching to a variable speed pump for the pool. Yes the 1 or 2 speed pump guzzles kWhrs but it does work if you could save money with solar in month one then why upgrade a working pump or spend money upgrading? Most upgrades like insulation, windows, buying new appliances, even small improvements like caulking and light bulbs all cost money but measuring their real affect on your electrical cost is difficult do to many factors. How much the heat runs depends on the weather how often the light s are on depends on lifestyle etc... I guess my point is that an intelligent evaluation, education and formulation of a game plan ought to be the first step towards solar. For many people who can't be cash positive in month one conservation will be the best investment of ones time and money but not always. Just in case this is perceived as an assault on the monarchy of solarpaneltalk I have donned my vest and riot shield so fire away. But really am I making any sense or just craziness?

[Naptown]

How did he get back in I banned him yesterday?

[russ]

Energy conservation is very important because we can take care of mother nature...
there are many ways to use renewable energy...one of the use i think es very important..is Solar panels..it has been used for many companies
because is very cheap and it uses the real power of the nature..we can find everything we need in the nature..
i share a link where you can see how it works..some solar panels to heat the water..is very good idea..

Mod note - forget the sales links

He was sharing a link to his own site - commonly known as advertising.

Your solar murals are cute but useless for energy collection - heat transfer requires surface area which the copper tubes inside your windows don't provide enough of.

Looks nice but they are useless.

[solarmurals]

Solar Energy, very good idea

Energy conservation is very important because we can take care of mother nature...
there are many ways to use renewable energy...one of the use i think es very important..is Solar panels..it has been used for many companies
because is very cheap and it uses the real power of the nature..we can find everything we need in the nature..
i share a link where you can see how it works..some solar panels to heat the water..is very good idea..

Mod note - forget the sales links

[SolarJoe]

Great Ideas!

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!

Great Ideas!

[bonaire]

Next steps for me:
- add digital timers to the two DVRs (about 40W draw each 24x7 - thank you DirecTV...)
- Replace 36" CRT tv in living room which my wife runs nearly all day with an LED

Those two right there should drop usage by 100kWh or more per month. At .167/kWh, that is nearly $17/month.

I wish those DVRs would be made with solid state disk drives and energy efficient standby power cycles. I wonder how many hundreds of MW DVRs are using in the USA spinning away late at night when nobody is watching?

Just because someone can afford the waste doesn't mean they should allow it. There are a lot of businesses out there who don't power-down their loads at night - which in turn loads up the AC requirements.

[johnsonpeter]

Solar Panel Installation

For solar panel installation, you can visit at xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

mod note - links not allowed - if you wish to advertise contact user name Jason

[audrey.hudges]

I strongly agree with what you have said and it is better to save more than spending lots of money in an electricity wherein we can save more using solar.

Mod note - I strongly suggest you forget the links

[SteveWatkinson]

Hi,

I m newbie on this forum, while surfing I come across your post...Its really nice post....I really like it..

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!

[mhphs]

I strongly agree

agreed.

buying all new energy star appliances, updated windows and doing a lot of these energy saving tips would bring your bill down dramatically and still be cheaper than solar. good post.

I strongly agree. Most people are more interested in spending thousands of extra dollars on a larger system than to look for cheap/free ways to reduce their electrical consumption and therefore require a smaller PV system.

[russ]

Doing good! Sealing all leaks in the shell is quite important and cheap to do generally.

[Utana]

Almost forgot one last thing we did. We've been needing to replace our old analog TV, and for a family Christmas present we decided to replace it with a very energy efficient LED projector. Now instead of an expensive big screen TV we can watch TV, movies, games, etc. on a really big screen. The quality of these new HD projectors is awesome! We have to pull the shades and turn the lights down, but that's just more energy savings anyway right?

[Utana]

Been a while since I posted here, but we finally installed a mini-split heat pump (12,000 BTU and 23 SEER!). It is so quiet, and is working great. We installed it ourselves except for the A/C guy to hook up the line set. Saved about half the cost doing it ourselves. Looking forward to a cool and inexpensive summer and a warm and inexpensive winter!

So far we have: replaced the $30-a-month (!) fridge with a smaller and much more energy efficient unit, added insulation to the attic and installed some solar shields (cheap space blankets), added timers to things that don't need to be running all the time, and added solar blinds to the windows. I was surprised how much warmer the house was just with the addition of the blinds. Those windows really have no insulating value at all. Also, found out that cast iron uses about 1/3 less heat than stainless steel or aluminum pans on the stove. Not much, but every little thing counts, right? And food definitely tastes better with cast iron.

Hopefully later this summer we will save up enough to add additional mini-splits to the house. We are going totally ductless. No ducts = no heat loss through ducts = less electricity to heat and cool. It will also allow us to cool/heat only the areas of the house we are using, which will be a significant savings to cooling/heating the whole house. This winter we will finish out insulating and adding radiant barriers on the other part of our attic. After this is done we can finally seriously look at an in-grid system. Excited!

Kelly

[offgrid KM]

1) Unplug everything you aren't using at this moment, including washer, dryer, etc. Everything that's plugged in is using some amount of electricity. Even digital clocks, for example, in a guest room where it isn't actually used by anybody very much. Unplug it.

2) Use solar lights for night lights. Even the cheaper yard lights throw off enough light so that you don't have to turn on a ceiling light to see to get through a room at night. Get a brighter solar light and you won't need to turn on the bathroom light to do your business. Even better, get a spotlight and it's bright enough to use for taking showers. You can even use those puppies as flashlights. A bonus is that, in a power outage, you've got light. Some of the spotlights even have on/off switches, which will keep the batteries charged enough that they'll last you through several cloudy days.

3) Purchase gallons of drinking water, pour off about 1/4 of the gallon, put lid on and freeze in the freezer. Not only will you have clean drinking water if there is a boil order, but the jugs will keep your freezer from working as hard. Just a side note: When milk goes on sale, you can do the same thing with it, but you should use it up before 3 months or so.

4) In the summer, if the night is cool enough, get up early the next morning and put a box fan in a window, blowing outwards. Open the rest of the windows in the house on that level and let the fan cool the house out. After it's cooled out pretty well, shut all the windows & pull all the shades, even on the sides of the house without sun. Depending on how well insulated your house is, it should stay nice and cool inside even when the temperature is in the mid 80's outside. I did that today and I had to wear sweat pants in here. The warmest it got in here was 71, when the temp outside was 83. It stayed 67 in here until about 3:00pm and then started getting gradually warmer.

5) In the winter, set the thermostat to 67 or 68. You'd be very pleasantly surprised how much money you save. If you're active, you won't even notice it's a bit chilly. In fact, your body will become accustomed to that temperature and when you go someplace that is warmer, you'll get hot.

6) In the summer, set the a/c at 78 to 80. Just enough to get rid of the stickiness and take the top off the blistering heat. You'll be cool enough you can sleep comfortably but not break the bank.

7) Buy those foam insulation things that fit underneath your electrical outlet covers and lightswitch covers.

8) Use a clothesline. In the winter if you don't want to use the outdoor clothesline, hang the laundry on those foldable clothes racks. Works great.

9) In the winter when you're chilly, instead of turning up the heat, get up and exercise. You'll burn calories, get more fit, get warmer, and save on heating costs, all at the same time. If you have a 2 story house, it's easy: just go up and down the stairs.

We've saved around 50% on our electric bill each month by doing the above things, plus some other things that I didn't mention because they've already been said in this thread. I'm proud of how much lower our costs are this year than they were last year. The best part is that it's been easy.

If I could find a nice powerful solar charged light, I'd save even more because I'd use that in place of the ceiling lights. Can't find one.