Power

[mdlbear]

Just some quick calculations. My power bill is outrageous. Thanks to California's ill-advised experiment with deregulation a few years back, and Enron's immediate exploitation thereof, my marginal rate is $.40/KWH. Eeep. I needed to have thought more about this quite a while ago.

My power consumed last month was 1086 KWH. There were 360KWH = $144 charged at the top rate; the bracket below that is $.29. Could I save as much as $144/month?

I have a bad habit of leaving lights and computers on, and even though every bulb in the house is a CFL now, and we use gas for cooking, heating, and the drier, it adds up. Fast.

There are 720 hours in a month. If I shave off 10W, that's nearly $3/month, or $35/year. That's, um... a hard drive. Or a light bulb. If I shave off 200W (full time, or the equivalent in part-time usage), that would save me my $144/month.

Nova, the fileserver, is currently consuming 21% of its 260W UPS, so that's 54W. Um... $175/year to keep my fileserver going. I don't know how much the new Atom-based board will save, but probably at least 50%. It'll pay for the $80 worth of new motherboard in the first year.

Dorsai, my desktop, is on an 708W UPS and eating 12% of it, so that's 93W. GAAK! (That includes the monitor, though.) Leaving it off while I'm at work and overnight is going to save a bundle. Swapping the CPU with Nova will help, too. Going from there to another atom board might not save me all that much.

Stargate, the router/gateway, is taking 5% of 865W (along with the cable router, the wireless access point, and the ethernet switch) -- that's 43W. But its CPU is already a fanless C7; the only way I'm going to save any power there is by using the WAP as my firewall. Somewhat less by taking the 500GB drive off and port-forwarding to Nova.

Colleen's floor lamp has 3 13-W CFLs in it, and tends to stay on 24/7 because the switch is hard to reach. That's 28KWH/month! I don't know what the standby usage of the two ancient CRT TVs is; the one downstairs is rated for 75W. I don't know their duty cycle, either.

There are probably at least 50W worth of lights in the garage and attic. They tend to stay on because it's inconvenient to reach the switches, especially when you're carrying stuff. Motion sensors?

Stay tuned. I can get 100KWH easily, at least.

Comments

[ravan.livejournal.com]

There are probably at least 50W worth of lights in the garage and attic. They tend to stay on because it's inconvenient to reach the switches, especially when you're carrying stuff. Motion sensors?

Motion sensors would definitely be a win here. Also in bathrooms and maybe the laundry room. Basically anywhere that people are likely to go for short periods and maybe in a hurry to leave, or carrying something.

I fight the "turn off the damn lights" battle with my household almost constantly. We have some on constantly for navigation, but they are low wattage.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

Replace all CRT monitors with flat panels, and set all computers but the server to go into "sleep" or "hibernate" after, say, an hour of inactivity. In fact, check each machine's power options, and see if there are things in there like "Turn off monitor" and "Turn off hard disks".) Put motion detectors in garage and attic, possibly also in bathrooms (most motion detectors have a manual override, to keep the light from switching itself off while you're taking a bath or something). Can you retrofit the floor lamp with a touch sensor (if the pole is metal), or at least a switch that's easier to reach?

The dryer uses gas for heat, but it uses electricity to turn the drum, and for all control functions. There ought to be a small metal plate somewhere on the body of the dryer that includes information like how many watts it uses. I don't know what to say about the CRT TVs, but they're probably power hogs. Oh, and don't forget air conditioners! Also coffee makers, blenders, rice cookers, clothes irons, hair dryers...

And if there are dark spots in hallways or seldom-used rooms, those little cheap LED night lights that plug into a wall socket use hardly any power - just make sure to choose designs that are bright enough. I had one that gave off a soft, diffused glow, which at least let me know where the wall was... but did not provide enough light to keep me from tripping as I came up the stairs. I replaced it with one that had a large clear acrylic "prism", which gives enough light for depth perception.

[mdlbear]

There are no CRT monitors left, thank goodness -- I've friendcycled the better ones, and recycled the rest. The only CRTs are the two TVs. I may replace the YD's with a USB TV tuner.

I've had rather poor results with LED nightlights, but I can now get 2W LED "bulbs" for $15. They claim 60W equivalent, but at 100 lumens it's really more like 20. Plenty for not tripping over things.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

The soft-glow LED night lights were equipped with a sensor to shut them off when there was sunlight. However, they were in locations that never got any sunlight, so they stayed on all the time anyway. They cost me $7 apiece, about five years ago. I think they were somewhat brighter when they were new, but, as I said, they had gotten so "gentle" that I tripped on the top step.

The new one doesn't have a light sensor, and it cost me $5 about a month ago. The LED is definitely much brighter - and brighter than the soft ones were when they were new. The "prism" is a tall, sharply cut oval of clear acrylic, which directs rays of light in many directions.

Are the 2W LED "bulbs" the size of old-fashioned night-light bulbs (candelabra base) or everyday bulbs (standard base). Although that much light might be too much in the hallway leading to the bedroom - I only close the door when I have the A/C on.

[judifilksign.livejournal.com]

For doing dishes - run the dish washer on a timed delay, when it can run at night at the reduced rate of .29 per KWH. Likewise for laundry loads, if you put a load in the washer or dryer on delay late at night, it can save more than you think. Twenty cents a load or so...

[mdlbear]

I may try that after we switch to meters that know what time it is; right now it's all lumped together, so whatever I save comes off the highest rate no matter what time it is.

[shadowe_wraithe]

Hmmm, sounds like investing in some alternative energy might help out...

I am thinking some solar panels/windmill/generator type things. Many can be started small, and added onto as you go along. Solar panels would be the cheapest to get going with.

LED and New Gen CFLs are a good start...LEDs of course better efficiency, but cost is much higher initially.

Hope you can sort out the situation, I HATE our winter electric bills, our whole house at the moment is electric. *SIGHS*

Alternative energy

[bigbumble.livejournal.com]

I live in Southwest Michigan and have recently installed a 2.45 kW set of solar panels on my garage roof with grid inter tie. Cost was about $18,000. The feds allow a 30% tax credit on that which I have already received bringing the cost down to around $13,000. Over the summer my panels have generated about 300+ kW hours per month. My garage roof faces East and I have a tree line to the West so your mileage may vary depending on panel location and how many sunny days you have. (I am being paid a special experimental rate by the local utility, so I am still doing alright financially.)

Small wind (as opposed to the big megawatt sized generators) tends to be expensive and hard to site due to the demands of towers and such.

[tetralizard.livejournal.com]

An idea for the light tree in the livingroom is for it to be on a timer. If you know about the time she ends up out there or say - set it for 8am and for it to go off at 1am that will prevent it from being on 24hrs. I have my livingroom light set for this which helps with the
A- someone is home "look"
B- if I'm out, I don't walk into an empty apt or "forgot to turn on the outside light"
C- keeps me from living in the dark in the evening
D- also tells me - "hey silly, you should go to bed now"

[mdlbear]

Good idea, and in fact I have a timer or two sitting around. But I've also replaced the light tree with a smaller full-spectrum floor lamp with an easy-to-reach switch. Win.

[nimuejohn.livejournal.com]

For switches that are hard to reach, there are remote RF lightswitches that are readily available (e.g. Ace Hardware) and easy to install. I'm going to be putting one on my hot water recirculating pump when I get a round tuit so I can turn it on from anywhere in the house.

Do you already have all your electricity vampires on a power strip?

If you're interested in looking into a solar panel lease, I'm in the process of getting one through Sungevity. (And I don't just say that because if you enter my referral code 32495 we both get a $500 rebate. Ahem.)

[mdlbear]

Sounds interesting -- I just sent out for a quote, though I'm not sure how interested I am right now.

I unfortunately don't have everything on power strips; that's a good idea. Most things are, but the switches are hard to reach.

[saffronrose.livejournal.com]

I'll second the motion sensors.
There was a second comment I was going to make, but it has fled the sieve sometimes referred to as memory.

[saffronrose.livejournal.com]

Do you or Colleen need/use "extra" electricity or gas for medical reasons? You can get a medical needs reduction in rate from PG&E. They'll send you a form to get signed by your doctor, along with why you need it (arthritis is what we needed it for). If you *both* need exemptions, make sure you get TWO notes signed.

It lowers your KW or gas rate.

[mdlbear]

Colleen generates a heck of a lot of laundry, but I doubt that it counts. My CPAP doesn't use enough power to be worth mentioning.

[andyheninger.livejournal.com]

PG&E's top tier rate is really high. Partly from the deregulation fiasco, partly deliberate state policy to prod people into conserving.

Do you know how much is going to the air conditioning? My guess is that it's a major chunk, even with this year's coolish summer. You can get two years of consumption history from PG&E's web site, and the seasonal variation might give some clue. Lights will be less during the summer, and everything else should be about the same, so something over 100% of any summer boost is most likely air.

If air is big, better insulation and weather stripping might be relatively low hanging fruit. And good attic ventilation, if it is lacking now. Ceiling fans and less air? Is it necessary to cool the whole house equally?

None of which is to say that you shouldn't go after the always-on computers also.

My personal energy saving quest is trying to find a R30 flood style compact fluorescent bulb that works decently. Our house has dozens of these in the ceiling, and no one reliably turns off lights around here. The flood-style bulbs I've tried all have had a really bad slow turn-on that makes them unacceptable in most places in the house. A little bit dimmer when first turned on is tolerable, but these bulbs are so dim that they are nearly out. Once warmed up they're fine. I don't know why the reflector flood bulbs are so much worse than common swirly bulbs in this way.

[marypcb.livejournal.com]

if the switch on a light or whatever is awkward to reach you can splice in another switch in the cable; we put a lot of foot switches in and I nag all the time about Turning Off The Damn Lights. put in cables with switches for DVD players and TVs and set-top boxes and anything else. pull phones out of chargers when baked (my wattmeter says a good phone charger draw 4w charging, 2w when charged and 0w plugged in when there's nothing connected)