Solar power is all the rage. It is so popular that many people want it for their homes or businesses without considering the cost vs savings. Is solar power really the answer to our energy crisis? Will solar power sweep the world and become the wave of the future? We don't have those answers, but we can tell you how to determine if solar power is right for you.
>Jason: First up this week, let me set one thing straight - solar energy is NOT the answer to a greener future, it is only AN answer to a greener future. Solar companies and government-sponsored environmentalists have everyone hypnotized into believing that if you buy a solar panel for your home, you will magically save the planet and simultaneously give yourself free energy. Wrong. What you will get is a rather expensive, home-based power plant that will in 5-30 years pay itself back and reduce greenhouse emissions by approximately one car. So, for only $50,000 you can effectively remove one car of emissions from the road, and quit paying your utility company for electricity. Of course you need also to consider that the maximum allowable loan for a solar system (assuming the bank will lend you money in the current economy for such a project) is 15 years, which at 5% interest is a $395 per month cost.
Don't get me wrong, I am not here to tell you that solar power is a waste of time or money, but you do need to fully understand it. The above numbers are averages, and may be higher or lower depending on your electrical needs. What's important to understand is that solar power is like buying your own power plant; its expensive but you own it, and all the power it produces is yours to keep. Sunlight is free; harvesting it is not. I'll let Ken take over from here.
>Ken: Jason and I may not see solar quite the same way. I was involved with the photo voltaic (solar electric) and passive solar (water heating) industry for several years. If you are concerned with the length of payback you will get by putting a power plant on your roof, perhaps you need to ask yourself what kind of payback are you getting now by renting your power from the utility? If you own a home and are paying an average of more than $200 per month for your power, look into solar. The payback will be under 10 years and the investment would be worth it in my opinion. In Central California, a $200 monthly power bill is low. I have personally seen averages topping $1500 per month! The life expectancy of most solar systems is 25 years. If you amortize the amount of installing a solar system over the life of the array, the cost would be approximately 12 cents per kilowatt hour. If your utility is charging you more than this, perhaps solar is right for you. Of course the amount of shade on the roof, orientation of the roof line and other factors must be considered to determine if a system would benefit you. Ask a professional because training of sales personnel in the solar industry can take months, so don't think you can figure it out for yourself.
Businesses are another story. Typically, business utility rates are much lower than residential and usage is much higher. This translates into a much larger system to reduce your bill significantly and a greater cost. Payback for businesses will typically be far longer than 10 years.
Other factors to consider are the tax breaks and rebates that are available. Right now there is a federal tax credit of 30% available for power plants. This is significant because a tax credit reduces the amount you pay the feds by the entire amount of the credit. In other words if you owe $5000 in taxes annually and you purchase a $60,000 solar system, the tax credit would be $20,000. You can spread the tax credit out for 5 years, so for the next 4 years you would owe no taxes.
>Jason: This is a lot of information to take in. Ken I think it may be best to finish this up next week. If you are confused (as I am becoming) please re-read the post and remember that you mostly just need to figure out if solar would be a cost effective measure for you. Until next time -be Energy Smart!
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Energy Vampires Revisited
>Ken: This week we want to talk about finding out exactly which vampire is sucking the most energy from your home. Try using a device called a Kill-a-watt plus. By plugging it into any electrical device in your home it will tell you how much energy it is using in amps, volts, watts, or kilowatt hours. You enter your electrical rate into the device and it will tell you the cost to operate your appliance by the hour, day, week, month, or year. If you want to check the Kill-a-watt plus website, all you need to do is click on the title for this post.
>Jason: Great. Thats all folks. Just kidding, this device is useful if you are thinking about taking your energy consumption seriously, and it only costs about $50. This may seem like a lot of money, but it is a small price to pay to assist you in finding the most costly devices in your home. Obviously some appliances use more power than others. For example, an air conditioner should cost somewhere between $0.30 and $2 per hour to run, while a refrigerator should not cost more than about $30 per month, unless you have a walk-in freezer. Use the Kill-a-watt on everything you can, and try to get an idea of where your power goes. Remember, be energy smart!
>Jason: Great. Thats all folks. Just kidding, this device is useful if you are thinking about taking your energy consumption seriously, and it only costs about $50. This may seem like a lot of money, but it is a small price to pay to assist you in finding the most costly devices in your home. Obviously some appliances use more power than others. For example, an air conditioner should cost somewhere between $0.30 and $2 per hour to run, while a refrigerator should not cost more than about $30 per month, unless you have a walk-in freezer. Use the Kill-a-watt on everything you can, and try to get an idea of where your power goes. Remember, be energy smart!
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Drastically Reduce Your Cooling Costs for Almost Nothing!!
Ok, not really. But we do have a neat idea to make your air conditioner more efficient. Read on to find out more...
>Jason: This is a pet project of mine, and I'm excited to share with you today. We've all heard of an evaporative cooler, or swamp cooler, but we don't all know how they work. Let me start with an introduction in the properties of evaporation. When any substance evaporates, it becomes expanded, and it uses energy to get this expansion from somewhere, in the case of water evaporating from the air around it. This means specifically that any time a compound becomes gaseous, it cools rapidly. Hence an evaporative cooler works by evaporating water inside an air filter, and the air blown through the filter sheds its heat into the water-vapor. This process allows the air to cool by as much as 20 degrees Fahrenheit. The good news with this is that evaporative cooling is relatively cheap. The bad news is that with a maximum of 20 degrees cooling capacity, this method is only effective up to about 95 degrees. Also, if the air is already moist, you lose ability to cool the air. Florida gets virtually no benefit from evaporative cooling while places such as the San Joaquin valley in CA and deserts get a lot of benefit.
>Ken: Don't think that you can get better cooling by using a swamp cooler and the AC at the same time - it won't work. Air conditioners work to cool the air by moving it over cold tubes that have refrigerant running through it. These cold tubes remove water from the air by condensing it onto the coils. Colder air cannot hold as much humidity as warmer air. The higher the humidity of the air being cooled, the less efficient the AC becomes. So by running the swamp cooler, you lower the efficiency of the AC, and make the units work against each other.
What would happen if you used the idea of a swamp cooler to cool the coils on the air conditioning condenser unit? Right now that condenser is using air, not the most efficient way of cooling. Using water is far more efficient, cooling the coils much more than air possibly could. So how could this be done and are there any downsides. Jason?
>Jason: Well I'm glad you asked! That is exactly how you can drastically reduce your cooling bills very inexpensively. Installing a patio mister system around your condenser unit does effectively the same as using a swamp cooler. Heres how: a patio mister creates water mist. That water mist gets sucked into the condenser with the air. The water mist then evaporates off the coils cooling the coils much like it cools the air. With this already-cooled coil, the condenser can more easily cool the refrigerant in the coil, providing you cheaper, colder air. This process can be likened to splashing your face with water and then blowing a fan onto it versus simply blowing a fan on it.
All you would need to complete this revision to you AC unit would be a water source with a patio mister attached. This mister needs to be controlled by an electronic valve that turns on with the condenser unit. Ask an electrician for help on this step, or don't sue us if you do it yourself. If you have hard water in your area, you may need a water-softener. Otherwise the water-vapor will create a calcium deposit on your coils, making it much less efficient than it is now. This may sound complicated, but you can buy all the materials for less than $200, and it will likely save you many times that amount in the years to come. However, just as in the case of the evaporative cooler, the more humid the air, the less effective this revision will be.
>Ken: I know this has been a long complicated explanation for a rather simple concept. Spraying purified water onto your AC coils will make it run more efficiently. There is at least one AC manufacturer that is using this concept now for home use. Freus has a seer rating in the mid to high 20's using the same basic equipment as any 13 seer. I'm not saying that your AC can reach that level of efficiency, but it should help significantly. Remember, be energy smart!
>Jason: This is a pet project of mine, and I'm excited to share with you today. We've all heard of an evaporative cooler, or swamp cooler, but we don't all know how they work. Let me start with an introduction in the properties of evaporation. When any substance evaporates, it becomes expanded, and it uses energy to get this expansion from somewhere, in the case of water evaporating from the air around it. This means specifically that any time a compound becomes gaseous, it cools rapidly. Hence an evaporative cooler works by evaporating water inside an air filter, and the air blown through the filter sheds its heat into the water-vapor. This process allows the air to cool by as much as 20 degrees Fahrenheit. The good news with this is that evaporative cooling is relatively cheap. The bad news is that with a maximum of 20 degrees cooling capacity, this method is only effective up to about 95 degrees. Also, if the air is already moist, you lose ability to cool the air. Florida gets virtually no benefit from evaporative cooling while places such as the San Joaquin valley in CA and deserts get a lot of benefit.
>Ken: Don't think that you can get better cooling by using a swamp cooler and the AC at the same time - it won't work. Air conditioners work to cool the air by moving it over cold tubes that have refrigerant running through it. These cold tubes remove water from the air by condensing it onto the coils. Colder air cannot hold as much humidity as warmer air. The higher the humidity of the air being cooled, the less efficient the AC becomes. So by running the swamp cooler, you lower the efficiency of the AC, and make the units work against each other.
What would happen if you used the idea of a swamp cooler to cool the coils on the air conditioning condenser unit? Right now that condenser is using air, not the most efficient way of cooling. Using water is far more efficient, cooling the coils much more than air possibly could. So how could this be done and are there any downsides. Jason?
>Jason: Well I'm glad you asked! That is exactly how you can drastically reduce your cooling bills very inexpensively. Installing a patio mister system around your condenser unit does effectively the same as using a swamp cooler. Heres how: a patio mister creates water mist. That water mist gets sucked into the condenser with the air. The water mist then evaporates off the coils cooling the coils much like it cools the air. With this already-cooled coil, the condenser can more easily cool the refrigerant in the coil, providing you cheaper, colder air. This process can be likened to splashing your face with water and then blowing a fan onto it versus simply blowing a fan on it.
All you would need to complete this revision to you AC unit would be a water source with a patio mister attached. This mister needs to be controlled by an electronic valve that turns on with the condenser unit. Ask an electrician for help on this step, or don't sue us if you do it yourself. If you have hard water in your area, you may need a water-softener. Otherwise the water-vapor will create a calcium deposit on your coils, making it much less efficient than it is now. This may sound complicated, but you can buy all the materials for less than $200, and it will likely save you many times that amount in the years to come. However, just as in the case of the evaporative cooler, the more humid the air, the less effective this revision will be.
>Ken: I know this has been a long complicated explanation for a rather simple concept. Spraying purified water onto your AC coils will make it run more efficiently. There is at least one AC manufacturer that is using this concept now for home use. Freus has a seer rating in the mid to high 20's using the same basic equipment as any 13 seer. I'm not saying that your AC can reach that level of efficiency, but it should help significantly. Remember, be energy smart!
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