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How Are You Conserving Energy?
ThosLives asks: "With oil again pushing historic nominal prices and all sorts of articles on alternative power, what are people doing practically to reduce their energy consumption? It's fairly clear that conservation is an overlooked solution to the 'energy crisis'. Has anyone come up with really nifty ways to cut their energy consumption without sacrificing their technical lifestyle? What methods work best for you? At what point (price of gasoline, electricity, etc) will you start to change your behavior?"
"Take me, for example. I'm looking to cut much of my consumption, including moving closer to work to cut my commute, possibly putting a throttle restrictor plate in my car, buying fluorescent lights, and even trying to build a small wind/solar generator. I love technology, and I'd love to see how it can be used to reduce demands for power rather than just being able to make more power more cheaply (conservation arguably being the better side of the energy coin). I'm even interested in how folks conserve other things too - I'm always amazed at how many plastic (or paper) bags the grocer insists on giving me every week and how much waste society generates in the form of packaging."
Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs. Not only do they save you energy/money, they're still pretty geeky! I've been replacing my traditional bulbs as they wear out, and these have much longer lifespans (which more than makes up for initial cost). The only thing I noticed when I first got them was a slight delay turning on, but I've gotten so used to that I no longer even notice.
available here
Thanks to the mac mini, my pc can stay off pretty much all the time, and the power consumption of the mac mini is like 1/20 of what my pc with tons of hard disks and pretty demanding video card needed. :) (9.5w vs over 190w for my pc...) Having an LCD monitor will also lower the bill as it use 1/3 of the power of an equivalent CRT. Not to mention all the time saved since I dont have anything to do with OSX compared to linux constant need of time consuming administration.
Also, I use the subway / bus, much cheaper than owning a car, and I actualy get to work faster with the subway than in a car waiting in line in a traffic jam. I use my bike during the summer.
A fluorescent tube should flicker at 120 Hz since it emits light both during the positive half and negative half of the cycle. If you can see it flicker, it is probably broken.
Moreover, most compact fluorescent lights work at high frequencies, like 10 kHz.
or the washed-out colors.
There are two types of light-emitting phosphor in fluorescent lamps. The cheap one, typically called 'cool white', makes colors look bad because it basically is a mixture of blue and yellow. Since those colors are complimentary, the light itself looks white, but light reflected from green and red surfaces looks too dark.
The other kind is called 'triphosphor' and is used in more expensive tubes and in all modern compact fluorescents. The light covers the whole visible spectrum and the color is somewhere between daylight and incandescent.
The spectrum of sunlight is not suitable for indoor use, because the human color perception is a bit different at low light intensity. (Full sunlight: 100000 lux; typical office lighting standards: 500 lux; living room: even less). A solar spectrum with a low light intensity would look rather harsh.
It's an easy 2-mile walk from home to where I work. I drive a small diesel car anyway.
The landlord pays the heat & A/C for my modest 1-bedroom apartment...but with few exterior walls & appropriate clothing, my thermostat is almost always set to "OFF".
I turn off unneeded lights, shut the 'fridge door, don't run a home server farm, etc. - my electric bill is usually about $15 per month.
I don't know if a 400% jump in energy prices would bother me that much. If the rest of America lived like I do, our country would probably have lots of surplus oil, natural gas, etc. to export.
It's easy to make up & spread cool- and credible-sounding stuff. Finding & checking hard facts is hard work.
Utterly wrong. Check your facts, which are about 15 years out of date. Energy payback time for photovoltaics is under two years these days. And I buy PV cells which are manufactured out of reprocessed semiconductor waste from the chip-making industry. The majority of the environmental impact from producing those semiconductors already happened, when they were refined in order to make Pentiums (or whatever else they turned into).
You're straining to find excuses for being an energy slob, and going about it in a very dishonest way. Get your facts straight. I spent over three months researching all the environmental aspects of this decision. You clearly have invested about 5 minutes of Googling, if even that.
I want to live on a nice planet, too, but realistically speaking that means centralizing production to a few good, clean resources (read: nuke) than building hundreds of millions of dirty plants across the country.
We are in agreement about nuclear, but what does that have to do with photovoltaics?
Walking to work also helps clear your head first thing in the morning (you'd be surprised how much it helps...). And if you're just outside walking distance, it'd still save you money in the long run to spend $500 on a bike and ride to work.
... replace my ancient oil-fired furnace with a much more efficient one (still oil-fired). I went from a 1.0 gph nozzle to a 0.7 gph nozzle, and the furnace still runs less than before.
I also consolidated many of the 6 servers I had running on old hardware onto 1 or 2 honkin' servers. The power required went down by a 1.25 kW. Over a month, that was 915 kW-hr. At 8 cents/kW-hr, that's $75/month right there.
Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
1) Replaced all my lights with flourescent.
2) Insulated (my 1940s era house had no insulation and now has it in the ceiling and walls).
3) Replaced my 1960s aluminum sliders with Pella double-pane argon filled low-e-coated double-gasketed windows.
4) Replaced my water-heater with a Noritz on-demand model.
5) Ride my bike to work about when practical (about 50% of the days annually).
6) Keep my car in good repair and drive it gently. Not only directly saves fuel but also the components, all of which require energy to manufacture. For example, I've only replaced the front brake pads once, at 140,000+ miles.
7) Replaced my 20 year old fridge with a new energy-star model.
8) Got rid of a second freezer.
9) Replaced top-load washer with energy-star front-loader with high-speed spin.
10) Replaced electric dryer with natural-gas dryer.
11) DISCONNEDTED IDLE EQUIPMENT!! I got an energy meter as a present and in true geek fashion started measuring the usage of everything in the house. It wasn't too hard to kill about 100 watts of 24/7 energy use. Some of the 24/7 power-eaters (these are all idle power in the "off" state):
Subwoofer: 15 watts
Livingroom stereo: 18 watts
TV: 8 watts
2 VCRs: 12 watts
UPS: 20+ watts
etc.
But does this make sense? Certainly not from an economic standpoint. I don't really get cold or spend much time at home during the week so my total energy bill before I got married was generally around $50/month. Even if I could reduce it to $0 I couldn't justify many of the purchases. Now that I have a wife and daughter (with home-washed diapers) at home the equation has shifted but energy savings still don't justify the purchases - they are mostly side-benefits of other activities:
1) Replaced all my lights with flourescent.
OK this one was intended for energy savings and easily justified on a cost/benefit basis. It's also nice to change lights a lot less frequently.
2) Insulated.
I live near Berkeley. We don't have/generally need air conditioning. I don't know if the insulation will ever payback the $1800 cost but it makes the house much more comfortable and adds a bit of sound insulation as well. The benefit is most noticable on the few very hot summer days when insulation is the only thing keeping the house from getting into the 90s like it used to.
3) Replaced the windows.
We were looking at shutters and blinds (funny thing about getting married - matching sheets are no longer acceptable window "treatments") and decided that we should get rid of the hideous aluminum inserts before spending $$ on window coverings. After much hunting we found we liked the Pella windows the best. At around $26,000 to replace all the windows and buy wood shutters and drapes we will never, ever, recover the cost on energy savings. But like the wall insulation, the double-pane windows make the house much more quiet and pleasant, both thermally and visually.
4) Replaced my water-heater with a Noritz on-demand model.
The water heater was getting old and I wanted to replace it before it broke on its own. The on-demand allowed me to put the heater in the crawlspace and free up room in the house. It won't pay for itself in energy savings but at typical construction costs per square foot it has already paid for itself in increased floor space. It is also nice to have unlimited hot water and the flexibility to leave the heater at 106 so all we have to do is jump in the shower and turn on full-hot (no adjusting necessary) but also be able to push the button to temporarily get 160 degree water to run the diapers. Of course I did all the work myself including trenching and running a new 1.25" gas line, running the power and control connections and rerunning the plumbing. The cost equation would be vastly different if I had hired the job out.
5) Ride my bike to work about when practical (about 50% of the days annually).
I just like bike riding and get my exerci
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"You are not remembered for doing what is expected of you." - Atul Chitnis
- As bulbs burn out, we've replaced them with fluorescents. These days there are even 3-way fluorescent bulbs and fluorescent exterior flood lights (which coupled with a motion sensor are even better at saving energy).
- When it was time for a new clothes washer, we bought the most energy-efficient one we could, a front loading model. They use less water, get clothes cleaner, put less wear on the clothes in the process, and leave clothes dryer, leaving less work for the clothes dryer (or the sun in summer).
- When it was time for a new water heater, we spent the extra and got a tankless model with electronic ignition so there's no pilot light and not 30+ gallons of water being kept hot whether any is being used or not.
- I no longer leave my computer on over night. Takes longer to get started in the morning, but boot time is now go pour myself some coffee time
:-)
- We've had a programmable thermostat for the furnace for years. Turns down when you leave for work (before I started working at home), turns up when you get back, with different schedules for weekends versus weekdays. Not only do you use less energy, but the house can be warming up when you wake up in the morning.
In addition to those ideas:- We've had a Toyota Prius since 2001. Simply put, it's the best car my wife or I have ever owned. Great mileage, low emissions, low maintenance, and the newer model is even better. Plus there's a $2000 federal tax break.
- Trip-linking. Plan your errands so you can do a number of short, connected trips instead of heading out every time you need something. Or better, figure out how you can skip the trip altogether
:-)
- Rather than buy an air conditioner for the couple of months a year we'd need one, I installed a ceiling fan in our bedroom.
- We have a couple of cloth bags we use for shopping instead of getting new plastic or paper ones every time we go.
- I'm in the process of replacing the old single-pane windows with dual-pane. This is more expensive and/or difficult than some people can do, but Marvin makes the Tilt-Pac for replacing just the window but leaving the existing frame. They're cheaper than a whole new window, and simple enough to install that people with some home improvement experience can do it themselves.
- I'm also in the process of adding insulation to our house, which was built with exactly none to start with. The attic was easy enough to add insulation to, but insulating existing walls is a bit harder. Blown in loose insulation tends to settle over time, and doesn't fill in small gaps very well. I'm looking at alternatives such as soy-based spray foam insulation.
- I'm in the process of designing, permitting, and hopefully in a couple of months, building a small addition to our house (going from about 1000 sq. ft. to about 1300 sq. ft.). The design incorporates as many green building techniques as possible, including more insulation than required by code, south-facing windows for solar heating in winter, large roof overhang to avoid solar heating in summer, natural lighting via well-placed windows, and a large south-facing roof for the future addition of solar panels. That's in addition to stuff like low/no-VOC paints and bamboo flooring which don't necessarily use less energy, but are better for the environment.
Besides the construction, none of these things is that difficult or expensive compared with their alternatives. And most if not all will save you money in the long run if you're in your house any length of time.It costs a fortune to keep my apartment at 68 degrees F in the new york winter
Here, have a sweater. Put some blankets on the couch. Turn that thermostat down to 60 or less. You need heat to keep the pipes from freezing.
Turn the heat up if you are sick, otherwise 60 is plenty hot.
If you've had problems with CFLs burning out after less than two years, or with them not starting right away when switched on, or with them being too dim when they are first switched on, then TRY A DIFFERENT CFL.
Unlike incandescent lamps, which are pretty much all the same regardless of manufacturer, CFLs vary widely in their performance. CFLs from the major lighting manufacturers have been proven in independent studies to last at least as long as they claim under standard conditions. (We did those independent tests here at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Lighting Research Center http://www.lrc.rpi.edu/.)
CFLs from the dollar store work about as well as you'd expect them to. But even different CFLs from the same known company perform differently in terms of start-up delay, warm-up time, color appearance, and whether or not base-up light output differs from base-down.
The best way to buy CFLs for your home is to pick out 3 different ones from companies you've heard of. Try them out side-by-side and observe their performance -- you will see differences, especially in the color. Then go back to the store and buy a bunch more of the one you like best. Put the other two into your porch lights.
Make sure that whichever one you choose, it is at least as small as a regular light bulb, so that it can fit anywhere. If you have any of your light circuits on dimmers, make sure you get CFLs that say they are dimmable. They even make 3-way CFLs.
I have CFLs in every light bulb socket in my home, including the one in the stove hood. Unfortunately, I still have one of those dimmable halogen torchiere floor lamps that uses a 300W halogen bulb, even though there are "fluorescent torchieres" now available that use one-fourth the electricity.
You two are arguing about different things. He's talking about "energy payoff" and you're talking about "financial payoff."
You're both right. Electricity is so cheap right now that *financial* payoff can take more than a decade. In terms of the energy requirement for production, though, panels pay themselves off in a few years (my research put the figure at more like 3 or 4 years).
So, to set a few things straight:
1. Buying panels is only a financial gain in the long-term. To pay themselves off at today's power rates (assuming they don't increase) it will take more than a decade. However, the panels will last a good 20 years, and they *will* be a financial gain in the long run.
2. Producing panels does not "use more energy than the panels will produce." The panels will produce enough energy to pay this back in a few years-- it varies by panel, but in the 3-4 year ballpark. And again, they will last around 20 years.
However, assuming that in their entire lifetime the panels only made 1.1x the amount of energy required to make them, it's still a net gain. Can you think of another way to invest 100kwhs and some cash, and end up with 110kwhs? And in this case, the numbers are more like 100kwhs, some cash, and ending up with 500kwhs and more cash than you started with.
It does sound like he got a hell of a deal, though. The systems I've been looking at cost about as much as a small car.
Coasting in neutral is illegal in California.
"Piter, too, is dead."
Use the fuel for acceleration, then shift to neutral for downhill/flat coasting will really decrease your car's fuel consumption
this was true in the days of carberators. now with electronic fuel injection, coasting does nothing, and actually may increase fuel usage. the engine computer is constantly monitoring the engine speed and the throttle position. there are presets in the computer that if the engine speed is too high compared to the throtte position it will quit firing the injectors until the speed comes back down. so when you go down a long steep hill, chances are that your ecu has turned off your injectors, and you're burning no fuel. i know this is true on my old '89 toyota with a very primitive efi system - so it's gotta be true on newer cars.
Daily watering is bad, the best way to water your yard is to give it a deep soaking ever week or two. Watering daily stunts the root system of the grass and propetuates the dependance of daily watering.
He who knows not and knows he knows not is a wise man. He who knows not and knows not he knows not is a fool.
i just did a 180 mile round trip to the ski resort wednesday and did a little experiment. i drove 62 mph the entire way (plus or minus, usually minus going uphill). my `84 Volvo wagon got an astounding 28 mpg! normally I get about 21 mpg, but normally i'm driving at least 75. i never accelerate hard at all, to conserve fuel.
the extra 13 mph would've saved me ~20 minutes. instead i saved over two gallons of gas (180/28=6.4 180/21=8.5).
you get diminishing returns for speeding. you have to travel twice as fast to get half the time. there's a very significant exponential decay in terms of time savings.
i think i'm going to slow down a little. i'm wondering how different the situation is for cars with good engines.
Myren
* Replace all of your incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent. Use the lowest wattage that you are comfortable with, reserving higher wattage for task lighting where you need the most clear illumination. This alone can cut your energy costs for lighting anywhere from 66%-75%.
* Wrap your hot water pipes and heat vents with insulation.
* Spray expansive foam insulation into your exterior facing walls.
* Replace any appliances that heat with electricity. Natural gas is the most practical replacement.
* Consider a passive solar water pre-heater so that warm/hot water goes in to your main water heater.
* Switch your car. Skip the hypebrids... I mean hybrids... and go straight to a good turbodiesel. Volkswagen has done wonders with their TDI. Add a chip and you can get great performance and still do better than 40MPG. Volkswagen TDI is known to run well on 100% biodiesel, also, if you ever consider going that route.
* Hang heavy curtains over your windows. Keep the curtains closed at night.
* Consider putting a small awning over your windows to block the summer sun from coming in directly, but inviting the winter sun which sits lower in the sky.
* Don't let your dishwasher dry the dishes. Dry them by hand.
* Hang your clothes on a clothesline to dry them whenever possible.
* If you live in an arid region, consider using a swamp cooler to augment or replace your air conditioning.
* If you live on a nice chunk of land, consider augmenting your heat and hot water with a wood burning furnace. This is impractical if you have to buy wood. But a godsend if you live on a managed woodlot.
* Replace all CRT monitors and televisions in your home with LCD's.
* Get yourself a "killawatt" device which will allow you to measure the actual energy consumption of everything you have that plugs into a standard 110VAC outlet and determine what appliances you need to replace with more efficient ones.
* Subscribe to Home Power and Countryside magazines to stay plugged into what other people are doing.
P.
Engine braking is going to save your brake pads and keep you from having brake fade due to overheating on long downgrades, of course. This hasn't been a factor for me in the last ten years; all of my cars have had either front or 4-wheel discs with good cooling, and unless I'm on a twisty 2-lane road I just put the car in neutral and let 'er rip. It's not often that you get a free roller-coaster ride!
Time is Nature's way of keeping everything from happening at once... the bitch.