Energy Conservation, The First Step Towards Solar

[esthdam]

Some things to help cut back electricity

Hmm..I dont know if this is much help but

One of the things that might reduce your electricity consumption is applying Passive Solar in to your CASTLE

For all you gents who don't know what is the process of passive solar is. Its the use of a very wide open space in your home, like BIG windows. So that sunlight will pass through and heat-up your house. The heat will be stuck one some part of your home (I don't know where) but it will come out once the sun sets providing you with heat at night time.

Hope this helps

Ethan

[Sunking]

In my own house in the Netherlands i managed to save around 40%, encouraged by subsidies from the government. Soon after (within 2 years) the electricity rate went up, a 'green' tax was introduced and gone where the saving, the utilities companies were making top profits selling less energy at higher prices. This trend is still going on.

To me this is just plain NUTZ. Why would any government or the people under that government allow that to happen? Why on earth do people want to kill their economy, put people out of work, and devalue their currency?

Brainless I am not picking on the Netherlands. Here in the USA we are following the down the same road. Since the Progressive movement started in the 60's our government has been giving industry every incentive they can to encourage companies and businesses to the leave the country and set up shop elsewhere. With the new executive administration put in place 2 years ago, that process has been accelerated.

[Brainless]

I have the feeling that saving 25-30% of your electricity is a wasted effort when you not at the same time prepare to go off grid as much as possible.
In my own house in the Netherlands i managed to save around 40%, encouraged by subsidies from the government. Soon after (within 2 years) the electricity rate went up, a 'green' tax was introduced and gone where the saving, the utilities companies were making top profits selling less energy at higher prices. This trend is still going on.
I was unable to install solar and wind because of regulations. As the house was on a dune at the beach wind alone would have been enough for all my energy needs. No more ways to save on energy use and still getting higher bills every year. Conclusion wrong location!

It has stopped to bother me because i moved to Thailand.
At least here i am able to install solar/wind and go off gird when i want to. Makes you think about the whole energy thing again. I have some land that is still unprepared. Connecting to the grid will cost about the same as around 2kw solar panels. The choice will be easy.

Now the most energy in my current house, a 2 bedroom townhouse in Bangkok, is used for cooling. I managed to get my fridge and freezer use a lot less energy by always keeping it completely filled. Empty space is filled with water bottles. The freezer and fridge are set on a timer so that it switches on only during the day. Keeping it filled and switched of at night saves about 50% without noticeable difference in temperature inside. At night it will never be opened anyway. The challenge will be to get the fridge and freezer running on solar. The 50% savings i have reached sofar will make it easier to accomplish. The best way to to use these bottles is when you buy groceries then take out a few bottles to make room and place them in the freezer. When you use the food and it gets more empty transferring the bottles from the freezer to the fridge will help to cool down the interior a lot quicker after you have opened the fridge. The freezer has 2 lids on top, opening the smaller one will keep the cool air in, not wasting much. The fridge has a large door in the front causing all the cool air to rush out quickly. I am still trying to figure out if i can use a second freezer as a fridge by regulating the temperature myself. I think it will be more energy efficient then the fridge. Time and experience will tell.

Lighting is florescent already so not much to save there, maybe change a few to LED as the light is more comfortable to the eyes.

I use a very small desktop computer using max 3 amps on 12v through an 220/12v adapter. The 32" screen uses 120 watts on 220v. Not much to save there anymore except making sure the screen switches of quickly when not used.

Insulating the roof saved about 20% on the aircon bill that is used only at night. I just used the bubble foam with aluminum backing to reflect most of the heat. Installed a fan to extract the hot air from the attic and made sure air could raise through convection out of the rooms to the roof, sometimes with a little help from a fan. It lowered the temperature in the house by 4 degrees Celsius. That was in our case enough to get it from uncomfortable to comfortable most of the year. In hot season (april/may) a few fans are used to help evaporate the sweat.

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.

[russ]

Hi ericaminto - Participation is desired however more than this is required to be dropping links.

Russ

nice ideas..one must follow them..

nice ideas..one must follow them..

[invisbob]

Other ideas

If you're stuck to a desktop computer like me, (need the processing power and drive storage) Pull your tower apart and get a good look at the power supply. Most store bought computer use one that's 70-75% efficient.
Go someplace and get a good 85% power supply.

Get rid of the dinosaur of a CRT monitor and get a good LCD. LED back light if you can. The draw far less energy.

Close off rooms not in use. I have an entire upstairs we use for nothing but storage. I blocked it off and closed all the heat vents going there. As long as you don't have plumbing during winter months, you'll be fine.

CFL / LED lights are nice. LED is preferred. Unfortunately, in cold weather CFL lights don't work good. (Northern Illinois winters are a bit nippy this time of year.) LEG lights seem to work ok.

Get a switchable power strip for your computer desk & entertainment center. You'd be surprised how much juice stuff draws while off. I wouldn't put my router or modem on the switch as it takes too long to re-connect and we have more than one computer using it at any given time.

Insulation is your friend if you have gaps. That spray in stuff works wonders for windows & doors. Blown in insulation in your attic is messy but worth the hassle.

Anything else I'm missing?

[rimpa001]

Why energy saving is important?

Why energy saving is important?

Did you know the waste for the average family home is between 25-35% of the total energy used?

Whether you want to make savings on money or want to do your bit to help the environment, it just makes sense.

If you can save just 20% of the energy you use, you'll make a saving of hundreds of pounds a year - and significantly reduce your impact on the natural environment.

With the rising costs of gas, electricity, fuel and food we need to look at ways to reduce our energy bills, waste and our carbon footprint.

The things that we can try in addition to the Jason's ideas include simple home energy saving tips, solar power, green cleaning, recycling and growing our own vegetables...

[BuzzBuds]

Oh, some other things that save us power is that we no longer use the dishwasher. That uses a lot of power for over an hour. I sat there one cycle with the watt meter, and was shocked into how much energy it was using. So the dishes get done by hand now.

Not to mention the water if it came from a well you also used and then there is the hot water it used so you have a boiler fee for that to.

I have insulater my house and have almost finished installing new double glazed vinal windows cauked and sealed my air conditioner is my hog I think it is abit too small as during the summer it runs all the time but my house stays at around 80 to 85 all time lowest temp has been 78 middle of day when sun is cooking my roof I am thinking of installing a roof vent fan and running it off solar to evacuate the heat stored in my rafters this should help alot, and the oven stove top is not bad but not good either, I usualy dont cook in the house during summer or winter for that as I have a well cover spot on my back deck and I smoke my dinners every day. Boiler is insulated well all pipes are too but my bill is still too high for me I am going to start nocking energy use off the grid starting with the my power hogs first then most of the smaller things bit at a time

Solar Energy

Very Informative.... Thanks

I think its always a good idea to save electricity. It will not only help us by reducing our electric bills but also help being green.
I guess wht it has to be energy only. We must save every thing we can weather its electricity, food, water, fuel etc. Its all for better. Lets pledge to save and stop wasting....

[russ]

@solarforce - SPAMMER!

30% wind & solar rebate..

If you owe Federal Taxes they will give you half each year for 2 years and deduct your 30% if you don't owe Federal Taxes you can't collect the 30%.

[Jason]

I wanted to mention to be sure and check for federal and state tax credits when doing upgrades such as windows, heating and air-conditioning system, roofing, appliances, insulation, etc.

Here is a link to the federal tax credits for residential energy improvements:

http://www.dsireusa.org/incentives/incentive.cfm?Incentive_Code=US43F&re=1&ee=1

Use www.dsireusa.org to find state credits

[zorrorocker]

Aussie told us a lot of method to save electricity,they are helpful.

Oh, some other things that save us power is that we no longer use the dishwasher. That uses a lot of power for over an hour. I sat there one cycle with the watt meter, and was shocked into how much energy it was using. So the dishes get done by hand now.

Also don't defrost your frozen meat, for the meat eaters out there. Defrosting meat in the microwave uses a LOT of energy, so take your meat out of the freezer around lunch time, and it will be naturally defrosted by dinner. That's if you don't live in a super cold climate I guess.

I also changed from using a desktop PC to using a laptop, in my office. The laptop uses around 20% of the power of the desktop, and is soooo much quieter. And if I'm not in the office, I close the laptop lid and it hibernates, using little to no power. I also don't have the office lights on during the day or night, as those 2 fluros use around 120 watts together. I have the curtains open for natural light. There's enough light in there with the light coming in from the window.

Another thing too is when I make a cup of tea, I only fill the electric kettle up with what I need. I had this habit of filling the kettle right to the top, and then boiling it, even if I was the only one having a tea or coffee. The kettle would use around 2400 watts for 4 minutes when full. Now it uses 2400 watts for under 1 minute, with it only filled for what I need. I blogged about that here.

So true. Before we installed the solar panels on the roof, I went around and replaced the old light bulbs with the new efficient bulbs. We also make sure we turn things off at the wall too, when they're not in use. Our 50" Plasma in the upstairs family room uses around 30 watts when it's sitting there all connected, not being used, so it gets turned off at the wall when not in use. It's a hungry sucker too, using around 350watts when it's on.

There's lots of little things to do, that all add up. Saving power is the equivalent of adding solar panels to your roof. If you save 25% of power, that's the same as adding 25% of your home's power usage in solar panels. So save power and then add the panels, and you're even more better off.

I took my home office off the grid too, and it's powered by my solar camping trailer. I wanted the solar trailer to power the fridge and freezer, and take those off the grid too, but that was pushing it a bit hard, given the high cut in power required for those. The 1Kw pure sine inverter in the solar trailer couldn't handle the load. Also if you get a cloudy day when you don't make all that much power, that really drains the 520ah of batteries I have there.

I still plan to pull a few items off the grid (fridge, freezer, some lighting) and supply them from another solar setup with some batteries as storage, but that's down the track when I save some more $$.