Net Zero Energy In the City

[Mary B]

I keep toying with the idea of a solar hot air dryer, just the motor would use energy. The output from my 4x8 foot panel is around 145 degrees so it should dry clothes in winter when I can't hang them out (My clothesline is currently 2 feet above a snow drift).

[DamonHD]

We're using MHRV (mechanical heat recovery ventilation) fan drawing a whole 2W to help dry laundry that is hanging up in the kitchen.  Works reasonably well.  Keep the heat, dump the moisture.

http://www.earth.org.uk/MHRV-Vent-Axia-Lo-Carbon-Tempra-P-REVIEW.html

Rgds

Damon

[gizmo23337]

Laundry is a whole discussion on its own.    I will eventually make some improvements in that area, and with four kids, two adults, and a dog we tend to be brutal on laundry consumption. Eliminating the dryer just won't work, but some improvements can be made.

In our situation, I have an under the deck, closed-in, outside area where the laundry vent passes through, and tends to be warmer than outside temp. I might be able to install a small wood stove in the adjacent basement area, and insulation and venting could be added easily to a potential drying room. Thinking is, that I can have a drying rack area near the stove or under deck area for a laundry "pre-dry" (from dryer exhaust or stove). I would still need the dryer, but perhaps the time running could be cut down on each cycle. I'll be making sure to get a gas dryer that has an automatic shutoff mechanism so nothing is wasted. Plus, over drying tends to wear out clothes faster.

If I don't make it convenient and easy for the rest of the family, then I am on my own and will be doing *all* the laundry, so it has to be simple and easy to use. This is probably the most important factor for me to even consider laundry energy improvements.

[thirteen]

Run a roof attached under the deck so water doesn't come thru onto  the cloths hanging under it.
They make a heat transfer box that mounts in the exhaust pipe on a dryer vent. I you might be able to extend the final spin on your washing machine it helps get a little more water out of the cloths if you have big loads.  13
 

[RandomJoe]

I'm also (gradually) switching to LED bulbs.  I seem to have much better success with CFLs than many, most of my bulbs are several years old and even some of the first set I bought (4-5 years ago now?) are still working.  However, I have definitely started noticing the "dimming" effect.  While they're still working, they start out much dimmer when I first turn them on and don't get as bright once warmed up. 

I hate throwing something out that still works...  Grr...

So far the LEDs are fine, although the oldest are only 2 years old.  One of those has been on nearly 24x7, a 2W model on my front porch.  Another, a 12W "60W equiv", has seen a lot of hours in my living room, that light tends to be on anytime I'm home and awake.  Only "issue" I have, is the 12W ones have this 1/2 second hesitation between flipping the switch and illuminating!  I'm used to it now, don't really notice it, but at first it was jarring.  Not sure why, I have smaller ones of the same design that don't do it!

All my LED bulbs are Phillips brand, couple different designs (the higher-wattage are the ones that look like a heat sink with three yellow patches for the LEDs, the lower-wattage ones look like regular light bulbs with just a little heat sink at the base).  Got them at Home Depot, have to catch them at the right time.  It doesn't appear to be a sale, I've never seen a sign indicating that, but one time I'll go in and the things are out of sight expensive but next time I go in and look they're half that price and in my acceptable range.  Not sure what they're doing...!

My main reason for going LED is because I try to run off-grid as much as possible with my solar system.  Not sure I'd really notice the difference between LED or CFL on the electric bill.  I don't have that many bulbs going at one time.

[DamonHD]

I've had a couple of early failures with LEDs, which is annoying, but I guess (a) new tech will be more likely to fail and (b) the life times given are averages and at least to start with best guesses.

I've had some premature failures with CRTs, though one of the very first that I bought (a Philips) was still working last time I tried it.

I have a couple of LEDs with a discernible on-time like yours, but not all of them.

I use LEDs on-grid and with my tiny off-grid system when I have 'spare' juice not needed for my server.

I think that the LEDs are getting noticeably better over time: I'm very happy with the mains 6W buld that I was just sent to review (and I am working by it right now).  Even better when it's free of course!

Rgds

Damon 

[gizmo23337]

Well, the results are in for my next bill. Not as great as I was hoping for, but definitely improving. This is the running total in kWh/day. We moved in Aug 2011, and began improvements in the fall 2012.



So far, switching from electric to gas furnace and changing to CFL bulbs has been implemented. I still need to switch the hot water tank, and dryer to gas. I made a few other improvements recently as well that haven't shown up yet. My lady's computer downstairs is so slow, that she leaves it on all the time. Rather than try to fix it and enable power management, I just bought her a tablet for Xmas. The charging power is much less than that PC ever could be. With my own laptop, I installed a fast simple OS and enabled power management. There is much less temptation to leave it on, because it resumes almost as fast as I open the lid. On my TV, I turned down the back-light and enabled all power management settings. It took the family almost two months to question if it was dimmer (and only in dark movie scenes).

For our recent usage, the kids have been sick, so there has been *a lot* of TV usage, hot baths, laundry. Add in extra guests for Xmas and cooking, and I suppose my coming next bill will inch up a little, but nowhere near as much as last year. Slowly, I'm getting the beast under control.