Comments for efficienting

Comment on The month’s electric bill by Elijah Sarver

Elijah Sarver — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:12:50 +0000

Well, I could do that, but since it would cost far more than the balloon, it seems a waste of money. I don’t use my fireplace, haven’t done so in the 5 years I’ve lived here. They’re messy, and I’m not a person who finds any comfort in them. I’d like an insert, but if I had one it would be full-gas quartz and those cost too much at the moment to consider.

Comment on The month’s electric bill by Elwing

Elwing — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:08:26 +0000

You could put an insert in. It’s quite a bit more expensive than a balloon, but with wood, you can use it to heat your place

Comment on EU ban on incandescents begins by Terry

Terry — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 11:59:50 +0000

It’s about time. The old technology is so old and so inefficient. I don’t advocate CF’s but I advocate change. A step even a misplaced one can take us away from the rut.

Comment on The efficiency of computing on the go by Dave G

Dave G — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 12:05:11 +0000

The only thing I miss when using my laptop is my dual monitor setup. Apple addresses this with their 24 inch display, but it is too much money for me. Of course I could plug in my Macbook to my existing monitor, but I don’t think I can get dual external monitors with mini-dvi.

The hardware differences between laptops and desktops is blurring. Look at the chipset on the iMac, basically a Macbook Pro with a bigger screen.

Also, when you look at laptop vs. desktop sales that says a lot about what people want in a computer.

Comment on TrickleSavers: TV is decent, PC is flawed by elwing

elwing — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:52:08 +0000

I got myself a Belkin Conserve to try to shut off all of the “ghost” power in the entertainment center (plasma TV, Wii, Receiver, PS2, Mac Mini). I got a rude surprise though. The Conserve uses more power than the standby power on all of those devices. The mini is the only item not on the switched ports and not in standby, and with the crappy power strip from Wal-Mart, everything was drawing 22W. Put the Conserve on, with the mini in the unswitched port (wait until the Mini boots back up…), it’s drawing 35W. Not much of a power saver to me. Other than the entertainment center which we don’t use all that often, I can’t think of any other use for the Conserve.

Comment on LED replacement candelabra bulbs by Elijah Sarver

Elijah Sarver — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 12:20:35 +0000

I’d prefer something from lumileds or cree but there aren’t many bulbs of the incandescent kind being made in this size, let alone LED. The Lights of America bulbs are mostly crap from what I’ve read, but they are a stopgap. Even if these bulbs are completely inefficient with a PF of 0.5, they still only draw 1.5 watts each, and at 0.5 that would be 2.25 watts apparent draw. Not a big expense to me. The nine watts currently drawn (or 13.5 watts if they truly are inefficient) is far better than 240.

I couldn’t find CF that would work here, and If I did, they’d draw about 13w each, totaling 78 watts.

These were cheap enough for LEDs, and I’d love to try out the cree version from zetalux, but at $26 per bulb, and 3 watts per, I’m not too keen on making the plunge there.

Comment on Do your part, even if industry doesn’t by Elijah Sarver

Elijah Sarver — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 12:07:08 +0000

Well, there are those who want to change on their own, though I have a self-interest in lower energy bills isn’t based on economic incentive. I don’t see that as a free market incentive, but a demand-side choice on my part.

I’m a big fan of Energy Star label, especially E* 5.0 for computers. They are beginning to certify power factor, and I think it’s a significant step. The apparent to real power gap needs to be closed. Low PF hurts the grid’s capacity to handle load, and I’m glad awareness is arising of this subject.

As for industry, they have no ‘free market incentive’ to improve their efficiency because they have no pressure on them. All of the pressure has been pushed off on to the consumer. The choices we make are heavily scrutinized while the 200 kVA machines they run are not. There are a number of formulas the accountants in manufacturing run that say changing out inefficient tech for newer tech is not worth it because it harms production. Sure, the new equipment could use 1/10th the power, but the line would stop, and the change out would do harm.

And even though some factories are off-line shutting down due to the economy, this is not the time a company can afford the hardware swap.

Comment on Home Energy Trivia by Elijah Sarver

Elijah Sarver — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:52:52 +0000

I set my thermostat to overshoot at night and I’ll see how that goes. Might make sleeping easier. For the fall, I’m considering installing a whole house fan.

I really need something whole-house like The Energy Detective so I can measure trends. Got any cheap hacks, Chris?

Comment on Home Energy Trivia by Plz

Plz — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 07:00:45 +0000

- Chill down to 75F, kill the A/C, use a ceiling or floor fan (10-30 watts) to cool your skin with dry air the rest of the day.

- Make sure your A/C compressor is in the shade. If not, make it so.

- A/C is most efficient at night. Overshoot the desired temp and kill the A/C during the day.

Comment on LED replacement candelabra bulbs by Plz

Plz — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:52:54 +0000

Sure LED’s are cool/geeky, but the luminous efficacy of the standard T1 LEDs in these sorts of devices sucks. They are at best equivalent to a CFL and at worst, half as efficient as a CFL.

The proper perspective is: LEDs (currently) do not pay for themselves relative to CFL’s…. But they are the future…. 150+ lumens/watt emitters are on the way. The price still needs to drop way further though.