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How many kWh per day does your home use when you are away traveling?
jlsoaz:
[2016-06-05 addendum/edit - When I first set this poll up, I was unclear if it should include all household energy use (including propane and nat gas) or just electric energy. Having received some input on the matter, I have modified the poll back after a day or so to be clear that it is just about electric energy - gas is ignored. However, I do think that it would be well worth it for some of us to do a whole-house energy calculation... perhaps a separate poll in the future.]
Hi -
I'm wondering what results others see as to their home's energy use when it is largely not in use other than awaiting the return of denizens. Just to be clear: solar harvesting doesn't count here. This is just about your home's energy use, not about its net-energy-harvesting-minus-use equation.
It was pointed out to me that the answer for some may well depend on time of year. For now my compromise is to ask if a person can provide an overall average. I suppose it's possible other compromises would be to set up separate polls for time of year, or perhaps allow more than one answer.
Background - this is similar to a poll I set up here last year:
http://forum.theenergydetective.com/index.php/topic,3265.0.html
Then I got to thinking that fieldlines might be a very interesting place to ask the question, especially if there are folks here who are entirely or partially off-grid and possibly very conserving of their energy.
bigrockcandymountain:
I am in the process of building right now in a passive house style. 16" thick walls with lots of solar gain windows. It should be zero heat in the dead of winter to stay above freezing. This is based on others that have built this way so I won't promise anything. I'm near Maple Creek SK Canada. That leaves the fridge and freezer so maybe 1kwh/day.
The off grid system is in already. 3000w solar array. 428ah @48v batteries. Magnum 4400w inverter. Wind turbine to be built when I get done the house.
jlsoaz:
--- Quote from: bigrockcandymountain on June 04, 2016, 11:35:24 PM ---I am in the process of building right now in a passive house style. 16" thick walls with lots of solar gain windows. It should be zero heat in the dead of winter to stay above freezing. This is based on others that have built this way so I won't promise anything. I'm near Maple Creek SK Canada. That leaves the fridge and freezer so maybe 1kwh/day.
The off grid system is in already. 3000w solar array. 428ah @48v batteries. Magnum 4400w inverter. Wind turbine to be built when I get done the house.
--- End quote ---
Very ambitious. Overall I'm hopeful this poll and topic will prove a bit of a toe-hold for folks to mention some of their individual measures.
Upon reading your points, one thing I'd want to mention about my own numbers - a few years ago I put in batteries and a new inverter:
http://outbackpower.com/outback-products/make-the-power/radian-series-inverter-chargers/item/radian-series-gs8048?category_id=529
Under "Idle consumption (Invert Mode, No Load)" it says 30W.
In effect, I may have raised the 24x7x365 energy consumption of my house by about 30 W (though it's hard to know, for example, maybe it could use less when there is a load).
For your inverter, it seems to indicate 25 W when under no load:
http://www.invertersrus.com/magnum-ms4448ae.html
I also replaced my old hot somewhat primitive (and very broken) solar hot water heater with a new one that included a motorized pump for getting the glycol to the roof and then I guess there is a heat exchange process. While the overall solar hot water heater functions wonderfully to help me save energy (it works so well that basically I can leave my conventional electric hot water heater circuit turned off at the panel much of the time) it still does add a small amount of energy use in that the motor has to be working. In fact, there is a vacation mode so if I am really away for a long period of time, and there is no hot water use, then the motor will cycle at night and reduce the overall temperature, but that means a bit more energy use.
So, while there are many things I could try to do to get my energy use under control, I think it's interesting that these two modern energy devices I've installed add a bit to the overall day-to-day energy use, even as they may provide convenience or reduce overall energy use in other strong ways.
DamonHD:
Background gross electricity consumption of house (on-grid, ignoring PV): ~1.5kWh/d of which most is the fridge/freezer.
Natural gas for hot water is 0 when we're away. Space heating is also 0 at this time of year. Mid-winter with no one one here and system only on frost protect with OpenTRV given temperatures are rarely sustained below zero C here would probably only be a few kWh/d at most. Note that if/when we get a heat pump the kWh figure would be reduced ~2.5 by the CoP. We have a fair amount of internal wall insulation (aerogel), triple glazing, etc.
Note that I have a small off-grid system which runs my Internet-facing servers (eg www.earth.org.uk) year-round 24x7, and can optionally take the networking gear off-grid too if feeling full of beans, which comes to a total of ~400Wh/d.
Rgds
Damon
bigrockcandymountain:
That is right on idle power consumption. If I went away and turned off everything that has constant draw like clocks and such, the inverter has a power search feature that uses less than 10w. I think 6w. The batteries also self discharge so there would be some.
Yes, I know it is ambitious. My goal is a less than $200 per year propane bill. We will see how it goes.
Hopefully some others chime in and give some ideas to further reduce power use. I'm always interested.
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