Electricity cost more than gasoline these days.

I always thought it would be neat to control the heat exchange between the refrigerator, dumping the heat into the house during cold days, and venting it outside on warm days.

I'd just about be able to heat my house entirely through careful manipulation of the window blinds. I have gone until November without starting the furnace up. If I could somehow connect the blinds to a controller that can monitor indoor, outdoor, and forecast info, the whole thing could be automated. Same goes for cooling by opening windows.

 

After going on a conservation kick, I found that deliberate manual control of solar heat gain had a significant impact. Block most direct sunlight from flooding through the patio slider door in summer. (The roof eve profile is well designed to keep summer sun completely off the other glazing early May to mid August.) In winter, set blinds to maximize this incoming light, wash the windows, and remove the bug screens that block 25-30% of the available heat. And do this on every south facing window, not just the main picture windows. Even the back rooms that are little occupied.

After improving air infiltration and some insulation, this active (but not automatic) sunlight management is effective enough to keep the heat turned off for more months than when we purchased this house. And now that we have AC (it came free with the ductless heat pump), we hardly have any need for it anymore.

Automatic controls would be even better.

 

one can skew any set of data to make it look however one wants. Leave off oil company tax free operations - leave off gasoline road taxes insufficient to even fix potholes/infrastructure, leave off how PHEV's lug around their ICE/gastank extra weight efficiency loss, compared to their ev counterparts, or that PHEV's incur costs of oil, fluids, tuneups, smogchecks, ect, or that folks who use PV - which eventually pays foritself in X years, leaving zero cost for electric 'fuel' . . . . no need to further beat the dead horse - via respiratory cost issues, pollution/CO2 cost issues, etc. Any way - there's the equally overskewed counter side. But ok, in your area your gas - your exact time frame - your facts. Looks right I guess.

 

i also have thought of the refrigerator idea. that baby puts out a lot of heat. seems like it would be simple enough to capture it into a duct, which the home owner could choose to take advantage of, or not.

 

Better yet, get a modern energy-efficient fridge, it should put out less heat. Many should average about 40 to 50 watts.

 

ours is 8 years old. fairly efficient i guess, but i can't see replacing perfectly good appliances every 8 years.

 

How about that gas water heater exhaust duct? That sucker gets really hot. It should be insulated in the summer, and could be used for heat in the winter. I tried the clothes dryer thingie, but that was way too much humidity pumped into the house.

 

illegal in massachusetts. not sure how to insulate the hwh duct, double wall pipe?

 

You guess? What does (or did) its Energy Guide label say? No guessing necessary.

Better yet, use that heat for its intended purpose, making hot water. This is more efficient than re-purposing 'waste' heat to anything else. Condensing gas water heaters do this, leaving the exhaust gas cool enough for plastic pipes.

 

um, i haven't seen it in 8 years?

 

You may still be able to look it up online. My previous fridge's energy consumption was still listed much longer than that.

 

could be, but i'm not spending 2 grand to save a little heat, it'll breakdown soon enough anyway.

 

i thought cali was espensive, that's the same as here.

 

Electric is now looking better. Gas up to $2.50 around Chicago and rising.

The rear porch just got rebuilt with provisions underneath for easy access (yet hidden) to what will be a level 2 charging EVSE box and cable.

 

It is nice that we have a choice. Gas or electric, which ever one is cheaper. With my two wine cabinets, a frig and running AC my electric can get to 0.40KW! : 0

 

gas still low here, no movement. i with i had gas powered a/c.

 

You have 2 wine cabinets and a refrigerator in your car? Nice! I was only thinking of adding a latte machine where the rear seat storage bin is in the Prime. I need to think LARGER.

 

Go big or go home.

 

I would say Bisco has it right. It's the total electrical bill that should be used, including "delivery charges", "system maintenance", taxes, etc.
The reason is those charges are "lumped in" to the cost of the gasoline you buy. Just because you have to drive to the station to get it is no excuse to remove those charges from the electrical bill. The station you use is "handy" (on the way). Charging is also "handy" (at home or work, or a "charging station", again, "on the way").