Electricity Saving Tips

On Mon, May 11, 2009, Stephen wrote:
> I'm looking for ways to reduce my power usage so I can eventually power 2
> EVs and my house (from my roof solar panels), rather than just 1 EV and the
> house. My Refrigerator is more than 20 years old, so I know that needs to
> be replaced in order to save energy.

Here are some electricity saving tips:

When shopping for new appliances, look for the Energy Star logo. The lower energy use by these items means they save you money over the years so it may be worth spending more for a higher efficiency item. And you can often get incentives and tax credits to offset the higher initial cost.

You mentioned a 20 year old refrigerator, it has got to go. If you have a refrigerator or freezer that was built before 2000, replace it. There have been great improvements in fridge-tech. If you have an older second fridge, get rid of it; shuffling the old fridge into the garage does not stop it from sucking down kWhs.

Use a front loading washer with high speed-spin cycle (1400 - 1600 RPM or higher). The high-speed spin will extract more water so the dryer does not have to work as hard. There are even stand-alone spinners that can do 3000+ RPMs! These are cheap and small and can supplement your current laundry appliances.

Use a clothesline or a laundry rack instead of a dryer. Line drying is easier/faster when the clothes are well spun.

Have your HVAC duct system checked and sealed. You could be dumping conditioned air into your attic and/or crawl space. In the US you can get a $250 incentive and in Oregon, you can get incentives up to $750 to help pay for this.

Replace incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent or LEDs.

Turn off your computer when you are not using it. Sleep is not as good as Off.

Use a Smart Strip Power Strip - These can automatically turn off your DVD player and game consoles when you turn off the TV. A second one can automatically turn off your monitor, printer, and speakers when you turn off the computer.

Replace that CRT monitor with an LCD display. If you still have a CRT, it is old and you deserve an upgrade.

For cooling, use fans. If you must have cooling and fans are not enough, consider a ground source heat pump rather than an air conditioner. If a central heat pump won't work for you, consider a "ductless, mini-split heat pump". These are standalone units that can be installed in any room with an exterior wall. You can install them in the room(s) that you use most to supplement your existing HVAC system. And they can be used to heat or cool.

For the S10EV, charge it when it is cool so the heat pump does not have to run. The inductive charging system already has losses (traded for safety); when the heat-pump runs, the S10EV is a Watt-hog.

Get a Kill-a-watt meter and you can determine what is using too much power and make a plan to get rid of it, replace it, or put it on a smart strip. If you don't want to buy a Kill-a-watt, one cheap alternative is to feel the transformers that charge and power many devices (be careful not to burn yourself, some of them can get really hot). If the charger is warm, that is wasted energy and an inefficient device. High efficient transformers are cheap and can pay for themselves quickly. Look for a switching power supply transformer. These can scale their energy use to meet the demand, rather than supplying the max and wasting the overage. Make sure you get the correct Volt, Amp, Watt, and connector.

If you use electricity to heat your home, look into a Zoned System so you only heat/cool the room(s) you are in. Or you can use space heaters rather than the central heating system. Again, a heat pump (central or ductless mini) is a highly efficient heating and cooling system.

Ceiling fans can be used in the winter too. Most have a direction switch on them. In the winter, have them blowing up gently to circulate the hot air off of the ceiling.

If you are buying a new TV, don't buy one that is bigger than the room needs. TVs have been getting lower power per square inch but the sizes are going up faster than the power savings. So the net is that TVs now use more energy than ever. If you want something over 50", look into a projector. These can use half the power of a similar sized screen. For a smaller then 50" screen, LED or OLED TVs are just starting to come out in earnest (you might have seen the recent Samsung humming bird commercial). These promise to be the most energy efficient yet (compared to LCD or plasma). So, if you can hold out for these to proliferate and come down in price, I would recommend waiting. Plus they are really thin.

I hope you find one or more of these tips helpful.

Saving electricity saves more than money.

If going without is not an option, go efficient.

If you have a PV system that only provides a portion of your electricity (like most grid tied systems), then reducing your home's electricity demand means that your PV system can provide a bigger percentage of your energy needs.

Links:

U.S. Department of Energy: "Energy Savers"

Learn ways to save energy and use renewable energy at home. Tips include appliances, remodeling, transportation, audits, hiring professionals, finding incentives and more.

Home Energy Saver

The online, do-it-yourself home energy audit tool created by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The Home Energy Saver calculator helps you find ways to save energy, and find the resources to make the savings happen.

Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (DSIRE)

DSIRE is a comprehensive source of information on state, local, utility, and federal incentives and policies that promote renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Energy Trust of Oregon

Offers conservation & renewable incentives. Energy Trust also offers a free home energy review for Oregonians that are customers of PGE, Pacific Power, NW Natural or Cascade Natural Gas. We got a couple free CFLs and a free low flow shower head when they did our free audit.

The 10th Annual Human Power Challenge

Oregon Human Powered Vehicles announces the Human Power Challenge 2009. This is the 10th anniversary of the event.

Events

Upright and recumbent bikes race in time trials, drags, and 200 meter sprints.
Left Coast Velomobile Gathering: Velimobiles are aerodynamically enclosed bikes and riders.

ePower Challenge: Electric assist bike races. E-assist is an emerging race category.

Electric Vehicles: The Oregon Electric Vehicle Association will have plug-in vehicles on display.

Where

Portland International Raceway
1940 N Victory Blvd
Portland, OR 97217

When

May 23-25, Memorial Day Weekend

Links
Oregon Human Powered Vehicles
Electrathon America

30,000 EV Miles

The odometer in my Chevy s10 Electric recently hit a major milestone, 30,000 miles. That is 30,000 miles of pure battery electric powered vehicle miles. According to the American Lung Association, even if these miles were fueled from the standard electricity grid, it is still significantly better for our air. And, as regular CelticSolar readers know, the solar panels on my house make more than enough to power my driving.

If 30,000 sounds impressive, you should know that there are RAV4-EVs out there that have over 100,000 miles. However, if you have heard the smear campaign that the millennium era EV batteries were not ready, here is evidence to the contrary.

I should point out that this is a freeway speed truck. The bed is fully open (the batteries are underneath). I have hauled 1200 lbs of rocks in it and you could hardly tell they were there. It will do 73 MPH and, other than the range, it is a no-compromise vehicle.

The batteries are 11 years old. They are nickel metal hydride (NiMh) chemistry. At this age, their range is reduced. When these trucks were new, they could go ~80 miles on a charge. Now my range is ~50 miles. 50 miles is still enough for most of my daily driving needs. I have a 20 mile round trip commute; most of it at 45 MPH. So 50 miles of range gives me more than enough for commuting and errands on a typical day. I plug it in overnight and the next day it is fully charged and ready to go again.

My most efficient trip was a Sunday drive in Beaverton. I was able to drive 16.1 miles and only use 14% of the battery capacity. My least efficient trip, just two months later, was a short hilly 5 mile drive when I was in a hurry, that used 16% of the capacity.

Not all of the 30k miles on the truck are my driving. I picked up this truck over 2 years ago in Feb 2007 and it had 18.8k miles on it then. So only the last 11.2k are my driving; with the last 18 months of that being solar powered.

If GM (and other auto manufacturers) had continued to make EVs, by now they would be lighter, more aerodynamic, have better battery management, longer range, on-board charger, fast charging, major cities would have charging networks... I am generally not one to look back at the past. I only do so here because I would like to make sure that we are not doomed to repeat these mistakes again when the 2010+ EV and PHEVs are generally available.

Here is hoping my S10EV makes another 30k miles.

Duct and Cover

We just had our home's ducting system checked and sealed. Why? To improve the efficiency of our home's heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system. Sealing reduces the amount of heated or cooled air that is lost to the crawl space or attic areas; meaning that you can heat and cool your home faster and cheaper. That sounds good to me and there are incentives that pay the majority of the cost. If someone is willing to pay you to reduce your winter heating bill and your summer electric bill, you should seriously consider it. We had our system tested, cleaned and sealed for a net cost that is less than many people pay for just a cleaning.

So why are there incentives? 
You can watch this Energy Star Video or from the Oregon Department of Energy:

As much as 25 percent of the heat from a forced-air heating system may be lost through leaks in the ductwork. You can get a tax credit for sealing existing ductwork or installing a well-designed and sealed duct system in your existing home or new construction.

How did our home do? 

Our home was built in 1994. Things degrade over time. In one case, in the crawlspace, the tie-wrap that was connecting two flex ducts had slid and there was a gap large enough to stick your hand in. This meant that when the furnace or the air conditioner was running, some of this air was just being dumped under the house.  

The blower test showed that we were leaking 1430 cubic feet per minute (cfm). The contractor said that when they are done with most homes they can get the leakage below 300 cfm. We were not that fortunate. Our post sealing reading was 710 cfm of leakage. The leakage was cut in half, but it is still a leaky house. Why? When our home was built, the codes were not as strict as they are currently. Parts of our air return system are not even ducted; it is just studs and drywall. That is going to leak. So unless I am willing to tear out walls, we are stuck with leaky HVAC system. At least now it is only half as leaky. 

What are the incentives?

If you have PGE or Pacific Power for your electricity utility or NW Natural or Cascade Natural for your natural gas, then you may be eligible for incentives from the Energy Trust. If you are in Oregon but with another utility, check on this page for your utility's incentives.

The Energy Trust incentive is up to $500, based on the amount of leakage reduced.

The Oregon Energy Tax Credit is up to $250 based on the percentage of leakage reduced and the job cost. 

With these two incentives, you can have up to $750 of the cost covered. 

Do it yourself

If you are more of the DIY type, there is helpful info at this link. One thing worth noting is that Duct tape, ironically, is actually a very poor choice for sealing your ducts. When the ducts get hot the tape's adhesive can detach. But don't worry; duct tape still has thousands of uses.  
A Do-It-Yourself Guide to Sealing and Insulating with ENERGY STAR

Links:

Oregon Tax Credit Info

Oregon Tax Credit Form

Energy Trust Duct Sealing Incentives

Oregon Homeowner Incentives

10,000 MPG

The Eco-Marathon is an annual competition sponsored by Shell, where participants build special ultra fuel efficient vehicles. Eco-Marathons are held around the world with events in the UK, Finland, France, Holland, Japan, and the USA. 

The 2009 Eco-marathon Americas event took place April 15-18 at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, where 44 student teams designed, built and drove vehicles striving to drive the farthest using the least amount of energy.

The Eco-Marathon has different fuel classes: gasoline, diesel, fuel cell, solar, and LPG. Some of these cannot be directly measured in miles per gallon (how big is a 'gallon' of sunshine?). So they are converted to energy equivalents to allow comparisons between categories. 

In the liquid fuel categories, the engines are generally only used 5 to 6 seconds each lap; utilizing the 'pump & glide' hypermiler trick to allow the engine to be off completely for most of the lap.

The current world record is 12,665 miles per gallon. That is more than 10 miles per teaspoon. This record was set in 2005 by the PAC-Car II vehicle.

Here are the 2009 results:

• The Combustion Engine winners were the Alerion Supermileage team from Laval University in Quebec, Canada with their vehicle the NTF 3.0 achieved mileage of 2,757.1 mpg
  
• The Hydrogen Fuel Cell winners were the Penn State University team; achieving 1,912.9 mpg in their Blood, Sweat & Gears vehicle
  
• Solar Power winners were the Purdue Solar Racing team with their vehicle, Pulsar, which achieved 4,913 mpg
  

Links: 

Shell EcoMarathon

Wikipedia EcoMarathon

April 2009 PV & EV Report

Like the sunflower to the left, our PV system was a little tattered this month. Our inverter crashed. We got a new one, but the system was down for 20 days (most of the month). The problem with the inverter has now been rectified (ha ha electrical humor).

The new inverter had some data in it (I assume) from production testing. When we connected the web box, it retrieved this data and uploaded it. The problem is that this data is not from my PV system. Specifically, it shows that it hit a high power point of 6.5 kW. I only have a 4kW array, so that is not possible and it messed up the charts that are on the sunny portal site here. I have called SMA support to see if they can fix the charts, we shall see. 

Here are the performance data for April:
PV Peak Power: 3.36 kW on the 30th Best Day: April 30th w/ 21.4 kWh Energy Generated: 129 kWh EV Distance Driven: 320 Miles Est Energy Used: 224 kWh

Last year, April was the first month to be net positive for PV energy generated vs EV energy used. With 20 days of downtime, that crossover will have to wait for next month.

To date for this year, I have used 1148 kWh driving and only generated 685 kWh with the PV system. Barring any more PV downtime, next month should have a surplus of energy generated.