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How many kWh per day does your home use when you are away traveling?
DamonHD:
Hi,
I have my incredibly boring list of things that we've done to reduce consumption (though I'm still not at all happy with night/vampire consumption right now, and I'm thinking hard about how to reduce it):
http://www.earth.org.uk/saving-electricity.html
The main things have been insulation, air-tightness, more efficient appliances when old ones are beyond repair or too old, and zoned heating that turns itself off when you're not around. On that last one I'm very biased!
Rgds
Damon
jlsoaz:
--- Quote from: DamonHD on June 05, 2016, 12:15:16 AM ---Background gross electricity consumption of house (on-grid, ignoring PV): ~1.5kWh/d of which most is the fridge/freezer. [...]
--- End quote ---
From another link you provided, I was reading your analysis of your fridge/freezer energy use and I guess you're saying under 1 kWh per day, but at first look I haven't yet found where you mention the volume?
http://www.earth.org.uk/saving-electricity.html
http://gallery.hd.org/_virtual/ByCategory/mechanoids/fridge/freezer/upright/white/
Under 1 kWh per day does sound excellent.
I bought a SunFrost in 2004 from the same folks who sold me my first PV system, and while it was very expensive and only 12 cubic feet, it was on paper the lowest kWh per day AC unit I could find. The cubic feet are laid out well (I think) and for a one-person household, the size was ok, but if it were for 2 people, it would start to raise questions of whether more energy is expended in more frequent trips to the grocery store.
I think there is other thinking that could make the fridge/freezer question even more complicated (for example, it could be split up into two units, and perhaps a freezer can be kept in garage in winter in some climates.... I have never known if this was a good idea.)
Mary B:
My freezer to fridge conversion uses 450 watt hours per day!
DamonHD:
--- Quote from: jlsoaz on June 05, 2016, 02:13:05 PM ---
--- Quote from: DamonHD on June 05, 2016, 12:15:16 AM ---Background gross electricity consumption of house (on-grid, ignoring PV): ~1.5kWh/d of which most is the fridge/freezer. [...]
--- End quote ---
From another link you provided, I was reading your analysis of your fridge/freezer energy use and I guess you're saying under 1 kWh per day, but at first look I haven't yet found where you mention the volume?
http://www.earth.org.uk/saving-electricity.html
http://gallery.hd.org/_virtual/ByCategory/mechanoids/fridge/freezer/upright/white/
Under 1 kWh per day does sound excellent.
--- End quote ---
All here:
http://www.earth.org.uk/note-on-Siemens-KG34NA10GB-upright-fridge-freezer-REVIEW.html
[gross fridge and freezer capacities are 186l and 109l respectively (186l and 88l net)]
As far as I am concerned it never met spec, which was a claimed 0.75kWh/d, but it does work, and it is bigger than its predecessor which used 2kWh/d.
Rgds
Damon
jlsoaz:
--- Quote from: bigrockcandymountain on June 05, 2016, 09:15:02 AM ---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.
--- End quote ---
In making my list of cool energy features which unfortunately have slightly negative side-effects on energy draw, I mentioned a couple, but the list is a bit longer. This is not really a list of tips so much as a sub-category of areas to be aware where energy and resource savings are sought and attained, but there can be as well a negative energy cost to note:
1) inverter drawing energy 24x7x365
2) solar hot water pump drawing energy regularly
I forgot to mention:
3) energy meter drawing energy while plugged in - I have a TED 5000 which allows me to have a good idea of my home electric power use, but in order to have this idea, and I guess to maintain continuity of data, it has to use a small amount of energy.
3a) if I want to access this data, or home network stuff, while I am on the road, I think I would need to turn on my router while I am on the road (I don't presently do this, and am not set up for it.
4) I put in a motor to recirculate bathroom water so that I was not wasting a lot of water to take showers. It saves a bit of water (which is a bit more important around here than in some other areas), but I'm not sure how much energy (if any) this really directly saves. If I leave it turned on 24x7 I think it may draw a small amount of energy, so I have it on a power strip and tend to turn off the strip when not in use.
5 My limited understanding of heat and cooling heat pump systems is that for the heating they have some sort of "crank-case heater" that is on 24x7x365 and whose purpose is to keep the refrigerant heat-transfer material to remain in gaseous state rather than converting to liquid. This heater uses energy and I'm told by several folks that it can be very damaging to turn off the power to the unit overall if one then turns the power back on and immediately restarts the unit (this would be if the gas has settled into a liquid and hasn't had enough time to regassify?.... not sure this is as much a concern during uniformly hot period where it might not turn to liquid form). Years ago when I first bought an energy meter, I would often turn different circuits off and on, to try to isolate where the 24x7x365 energy use was particularly if it was on a 240 Volt circuit where I could not use a plug meter. This heater energy use was perhaps the biggest in the house (16 watts?), however, I suspect that I did a lot of damage to my unit and buying a new one and having it installed was very expensive (though maybe that damage was not the only reason it wore out - it was fairly old.... and I did manage to get one that is more energy efficient). I don't know all the ins and outs of this issue, but when I leave the house for lengthier periods of time, I have stopped my previous practice of turning off the circuit to the unit - even though I think there is a bit of energy used 24x7x365, I'm just not willing to risk any further needless damage. I do think it points to a question of whether there are highly efficient modern heating and cooling technologies out there which do not have this issue built into them, but I have found it somewhat challenging to research.
So, the above are all my pet-topic sort of list of energy use that is tied in to measures that I take to save or monitor energy or water.
On more basic energy-saving tips that we might want to share with each other, it is I think a long and ongoing discussion, but to get the ball rolling slightly, whether on larger or small areas:
- reducing (or avoiding installing) too many cordless phones plugged in 24x7x365 is an area that I think has some potential. I don't practice what I preach in this area.
- I bought a good energy-saving refrigerator/freezer years ago and do not regret the basics of this decision. I think the exact balance of money and energy savings is one that is a bit debatable, but the refrigerator/freezer percent of the overall daily energy use equation is pretty substantial for most of us, so it seems defensible to spend at least some money in this area, for an excellent energy-saving appliance (or in some cases, for a more complex strategy).
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