Our solar results - 4 months

I cannot take much credit for my conservation plans -- I live in the high desert of the southwest. So free for the taking are:

Sun to passively heat the house in the winter
Sun for warm water use
Sun to dry clothes on the line
Cool evenings and low humidity to cool the house off in the summer with ventilation

I have not metered my fridge yet, although I suspect it is eating way over 50 kWh/month. I find it hard to accept sending something to the dump when it still has useful life. Goes against my cheap nature, and I doubt it makes environmental sense.

I am hopeful that I can cut out non-electricity fossil fuel use in the home completely this year, but I'm sure I am still *way* above Icarus' total home carbon emissions. I am happy to say that my employment related personal car use will be going down to less than 6 gallons/month.

 

I can understand that. Replacing the fridge is hard to justify with energy savings alone. The 1994 fridge I replaced still had reasonable energy use so the energy savings for the fridge alone was limited to about $50/year. However, I figured it only had about 5 years of life left...at which point its resale value would be $0. So I decided to replace early, pocket the $50/year savings, and sell the still working fridge for $200 (succeeded.) 18 months zero percent financing also helped ease me into the new one--nothing quite like making some money for a time on someone else's dime. This had other benefits in that the new fridge is a better match to the updated kitchen, the layout is much more convenient, and it is larger. In fact, it being larger allowed me to shut down a tiny college fridge...for another $20/year in electric savings. Haven't sold it though as I might use it for lagering...or for temp control of an ale fermenter in summer...or as an extra beverage dispenser during get togethers.

Now, about the efficiency of the old fridge...carefully inspect the external coils. I made a pretty big improvement in efficiency of my old fridge by rigging up a narrow nozzle to suck all the cobwebs from deep in the coil. This was the previous home owner's fridge and although it looked clean at first glance I eventually realized that only the first few inches of coil were clear. I was reading 1414 kwh/year measured over a week during the summer before I cleaned it. I cleaned it in Winter and then retested at 838 kwh/year. However, the house temp was about 10 F lower on average and I had somewhat reduced the degree of cooling in between the tests. Allowing for both effects with a few delta T calcs, I suspect I restored about 35% of its efficiency with the cleaning itself.

 

Wish I could say that, but the inefficient HVAC system and large volume/vertical height of the home are making it hard to even get to mid-pack on an annual basis. It's going to take me awhile to get the nat. gas usage in check--I really want to cut it by 50% as well.

I'm trying harder than 90% at the moment...and I'm more aware of where I am (warts and all) than 90% as well. I was pretty happy when a bunch of changes came together and I rapidly punched through 500 kwh/month from previous base levels of about 700 kwh/month for our household. However, 400 is proving obstinate.

The security system impacts insurance.

I'm not even going to try to sell the wife on disabling the garage door openers. She's actually very supportive and has been one to nudge me into various things, like testing the Prius, but saving 10 kwh/month on the door openers just isn't enough. Instead, I'm going to keep an eye out for newer models that actually have low standby wattage. I figure it is just a matter of time before the products catch up.

In our situation it needs to run continuously and maintain a slight vacuum, else that would be a good solution. It's a retrofit.

In new construction in higher radon risk zones passive vent stacks are encouraged or sometimes required. My understanding is that in most cases the presence of the properly placed passive stack and site prep effectively mitigate radon through natural draft/venting. So although a blower can be added to the stack later if a home fails a test, it is rarely needed.

 

Boy, was that good advice. They were filthy! I know that I maintain many of my devices poorly. Surely something to spend more effort at. Not just for longevity's sake, but ongoing energy conservation also.

 

and the best part is that it's free money. Low hanging fruit...

 

very low hanging. I had to lie on my back

 

or 10 100 watt bulbs for 11 hours ... the length of night time during summer.

What part of the country are you in? Our utility is Edison in So Cal. They, like the utilities in most areas, don't pay for the yearly surplus, in the strictest sense. But since 1/3 of our PV cost was paid via Fed tax credits and 1/4 the cost was paid via the CA solar initiative ... some rationalize that the initiatives paid for the surplus up front. Would we like a dime for each Kwh we kick back over a year? Would that be double-dipping? Some would say. It'll all be a moot point once those dang EV's get re-introduced ... and we'll likely have to change out our AC compressor at that time, just to zero out ... if we start doing EV charging.

 

I'm hoping that utilities will begin paying a reasonable incremental value for surplus and counting it against their total production. The key here is that utilities should be encouraged to give credit for customers willing to pay capital up front so that they can claim renewable production capacity. This is the ultimate win-win. Utilities are getting mandates to increase renewable production as percent of total, so why not do it the easy way and get some other guy to provide the capital and take the risk for you while you reap much of the reward and get regulatory credit? Hit me upside the head with a 2x4 but this appears to be a no-brainer for a budding capitalist (but not something your average conservative can grasp.) If Johnny SolarGlo wants to put in 50kw of surplus solar generating capacity, say thanks, pay him something reasonable for the surplus he makes, and pat yourself on the back for not having to spend the capital yourself. He's happy, you're happy.

I mean, heck, if I could convince all of you to invest in some device so that you can provide me with something I can resell instantly at a profit while paying you below market rates I would be glad to do it!

 

Pyccku,

Good for you,

just goes to show all those ignorant naysayers who pooh-pooh the idea that conservation can have a huge effect on consumption! "Oh you will have to live in a cave with a candle to make any difference!"

You have proved that with just some simple, inexpensive changes you can reduce your consumption by ~40%,, not an insignificant number if we were all to do it.

If you haven't already maximized your ac efficiency by using it to heat hot water, ground source loop heat pump etc. seriously consider doing so. The pay off is very fast and the potential reduction is kwh use is huge.

Keep up the good work,,, and keep bragging about it, as that is how we change people's attitudes,,, and the world.

Icarus

 

By way of asking how other posters to this thread are doing with their solar PV and to bump the thread, here are my solar results for the past two months. The system was installed in March and officially went on-line 6 April. Apologies that this will not reflect the amount generated. I have not learned the buttons on the Fronius well enough yet to start punching them to determine monthly totals. These numbers will give an idea.

Monthly Level Pay with SCE was $208.
Average Daily use over 5 years was 34.14KWH for May
Average Daily use over 5 years was 36.72KWH for June

Average Daily use for this May was 3.72KWH
Average Daily use for this June was 8.64KWH very overcast for three weeks.

May's Bill was $1.63.
June's Bill was $2.17.

About half the bill is fees and taxes.

System is:
Installer: Real Goods Carlson
18 Sharp 224 Watt
1 Fronius IG4000 240V Inverter

If and when I get the generated amounts figured out, I will post them.

My wife and I are happy campers. This "investment" in efficient appliances, CFL's and PV is paying and will continue to pay dividends for years to come.

PasPrius

 

Congrats on your great numbers and your foresight to build the system. It is also nice to hear someone (else) extoll the virtues of doing the efficiency things in concert with Pv. Too many people think that they can just build a big Pv system and continue to light with conventional bulbs, use old fridges etc.

Keep up the good work and keep telling everyone not only how great it is,,, but how utterly conventional it is,, you're not living in a cave eating twigs and nuts!

Icarus

 

PasPrius,

What do you use for heat, AC, and water heating?

 

Shawn-

Water heating is natural gas.

Two HVAC systems (it's a pretty big house). Both use natural gas for heat with standard central AC for cooling.

Both AC units are older technology which will probably have to be replaced in the next few years. Fortunately, we have not had to use them this year because they both eat prodigious amounts of wattage.

One of the things that has saved a great deal this last year was the installation of programmable, digital thermostats on both HVAC systems. Set it, forget it, leave it alone unlike the old analog dial which everyone liked to move slightly depending on their mood at the moment. The other thing that has saved a great deal IMO has been the use of CFL lights. So far, I have put in 87 CFL's of various sizes.

I would also mention that installing solar PV is a bit like buying and driving a Prius. With the Prius, you begin to pay close attention to mileage and you begin to chase the mileage numbers. With solar PV you are forced to record and examine your prior electrical use and as with the Prius, you begin to watch it closely to see just how much you can save. Lights go off, AC does not get used, appliances get turned off, et al. The $5.00 fill up for the Prius and the $2.17 electric bill for the month both elicit a real sense of accomplishment.

PasPrius

 

As you work toward energy efficiency with you HVAC systems, consider some different options. Look into heating domestic hot water with your ac system. This allows your ac system to run way more efficiently, all while giving the side benefit of hot water. Other ideas include ground water or earth source heat pumps,, split phase ac systems that are very efficient and can with multiple unites be a very good way to zone cool (and heat). Obviously consider solar hot water, with demand gas back up.

Keep up the good effort,

Icarus

 

PasPrius,

I'll be interested to see your generated figures when you get them sorted. That and your usage will tell you how much you've improved efficiency compared to the previous five years.

We went from about 27 kwh/day to 14.5 kwh/day in the past 8 months--excluding HVAC. We've had to use AC nine days so far this month adding about 40+ kwh/day when on.

Your climate should be ideal for solar water heating.