Darn windmills always blocking the road :D

[dave1949]

Another interesting device are the storage heaters like the Steffes ETS. They have a mass of "bricks" inside, which you heat during off peak. This heat is then returned to your house during peak hours. Theyre becoming incredibly popular around here in new construction. [

I am already doing a different form of this - our house is direct gain passive solar. Which amounts to a lot of south windows heating a lot of concrete. It works for us.

There is a lot of proven network technology and skilled network engr's already in existence. I just think it makes sense to build a fairly straight forward network on top of the grid if you need to communicate between nodes - and you would for it to be very smart. At least that part of the wheel doesn't need inventing.

The standards would hopefully be defined faster than a Blu-ray dvd It would take some arm twisting no doubt.

Dave.

 

[Lloyd_E]

Scoob.

Ever hear of a candle? And post #12... don't know what you use for fertilizer but you grow them big(second photo) in your neck of the woods! :0

Like many have said - the cost of production and after use consideration is crucial. - whether it is health or social/economic concern.

One thing we can all do in monitor our usage and cut back. In our house we are implementing a lights out and power down night a couple of times a month. We live in a 200 year old house and my interest in old ways always filters down through the family whether they like it or not. The kids enjoy it but the other half has issues! Essentially we use a a couple of evenings to light the house and use the house as it would have been used a couple of hundred years ago. It's fun for the kids and I enjoy it and to think this all came about from a certain white juan* years ago with no power for 5 days.

*we experienced a hurricane in fall 2004 that created major problems for us... in winter we got blasted with 2-3' of snow that created major problems as well. So we nick-named the winter storm white juan... or at least the journalists did.

I also think we should be going back to small independent (private)power producers utilizing any reasonable means to provide to the grid... whether it is small scale solar, wind, geo-thermal, water stream turbine etc.


lloyd

 

[dave1949]

Scoob.

One thing we can all do in monitor our usage and cut back.

lloyd

That's absolutely the quickest and least expensive solution. We use 95% CFL bulbs now. Always a lamp or two around that CFL's don't fit in, or the shade won't fit the CFL bulb.

Scooby is moving on to LED's, but I'll have to get more usage out my current CFL costs before switching to LED.

My biggest energy guilt is leaving the computer, cable modem and wireless network box running all the time. We use cable digital phone so turning off the cable modem turns off the phone too - not that it ever rings late at night.

As I recall, they total around 25W when the PC is in sleep mode.

It is a good lesson you are giving your kids by powering down. Maybe it gives them a perspective of how valuable power is to have, we tend not to waste valuable things - right?

Dave.

 

[Scooby074]

We got hit pretty bad during white juan up here too.

Im quite familiar with candles In our camp and trailer it was either candles or the coleman.....Untill i upgraded to LED. Now i can run my lights for a week on a deep cycle 12v battery that costs pennies? to recharge. No sense living in the dark ages, literally. Im all for adopting to new, more efficient technologies.

Dave: Good points. CFL's and turning off standby appliances can make a huge difference. If your curious about what supposed "turned off" appliances continue to draw, you should invest in a Kill_A_Watt meter that plugs between the device and the wall.

Also ditching the old CRT monitor and TV and replacing with LCD will make a difference too.

 

[dave1949]

Scooby - No old crt's here. But I have heard the lcd TV's are energy hogs.

I have a KillAWatt, haven't had it out in a while. I should plug it into the TV circuit and see what it uses. We have a Sharp 40" lcd, so we can watch the Red Sox lose better The larger lcd TV's are nice, no doubt.

Wouldn't have bought one yet if I hadn't knocked the old 19" crt off the table while doing some floor tiling

Another great energy sleuthing tool are those infra-red thermometers. They can help find and put a value on hot and cold surfaces. I know you can use your hand sometimes, but that's sort of subjective. Plus you can measure things like the temp on your woodstove where you wouldn't put your hand.

I think Juan only caused very minor damage in S. Maine where we lived at the time. We also were about 30 miles south of the serious damage in the '98 Ice Storm. I'll never forget the pics of those transmission towers in Quebec Prov. slumped to the ground. Looked like Godzilla went through.

Dave.

 

[Scooby074]

Dave: LCD's can be energy hogs. Like alot of things their quality and performance can vary widely. Sharps are some of the most efficient Tv's The basics of TV power - CNET Reviews The chart: 150 HDTVs' power consumption compared - CNET ReviewsBut careful selection can yield a tv with much better energy usage than CRT. Of course, i wasnt advocating tossing a working CRT, because that would waste more energy creating the LCD than continuing to use the CRT. (something i think Cash for Clunkers failed to grasp)

IR is great. We've had guys with thermal imagers come into work looking for electrical hotspots. Sooo cool. (but it caused me grief in the added workload, fixing up all the found problems) A house inspection with thermal can show everything from water leaks to damaged insulation, showing you the exact areas that need attention. No more beating unnecessary holes in walls