Solar and Wind Energy;

Our Wise and Efficient Use

Part 2

by Randy Cooper

Environmental Engineer

09/09/09

Greetings local and visiting high-country folks. I’m pleased to continue this series about how we can use our energy more efficiently and discuss, plan, and/or learn about solar and wind energy.

I’ll try and write these so the reader who has read the prior articles can enjoy without a lot or repeat, and the reader reading just one article can still get the feel of what we are discussing in the series.

Last week I mentioned my belief that we United States citizens can continue to live a comfortable lifestyle and, at the same time, use energy in a more cost-effective, efficient, cash saving manner. I pointed out that these topics can benefit both the solar and wind newbie and the seasoned user maven, on- or off-grid user.

Energy Cutting Tools

Last week I stated that the starting point to either, use energy more wisely or, design a solar/wind energy system is the same place: Use energy more wisely. We covered the benefits of compact fluorescent bulbs and this week will address the heaters we use in our homes. These are two of the heavy hitters of energy use. They naturally are the first targets in my energy efficiency and solar and wind design projects

Heaters: Do you use any in your home? You may say, “No, I use propane, or wood, to heat in the winter and to heat my water as electricity is so costly”. Well I believe you use many more, and these are huge users of electrical power. Being the heavy hitters, they naturally are also first targets in my energy efficiency and solar and wind design projects.

Do you drink coffee? I do. I targeted coffee brewing for power use efficiency improvement first last summer and then further in the winter. I used to brew it on an electric pot. Since I’m operating on purely off-grid power, all heater-type loads are as mentioned above, heavy hitters. Did you know a typical coffee pot draws (uses) approximately 800 watts? I don’t use a microwave so the only bigger draws for me are the big motor draws, my skill saw (must be worm drive), cloths washing machine, the vacuum cleaner, for example. Even the pump I use to transfer water to my water tower uses less than half the watts. Comparing the light bulbs to the coffee pot, (thinking as any good engineer should be to make things relatable), running a coffee pot is like running 10 75-watt incandescent light bulbs; or 47 75-watt equivalent compact florescent bulbs (47 bulbs x 17 watts/bulb = 799 watts or approximately 800 watts). That’s a lot of energy.

So what’s the solution? Slightly Modify Our Behavior. I didn’t stop drinking coffee. I didn’t start drinking it cold. I simply added a few steps to coffee brewing. The warmer the water starts at, the quicker the coffee pot turns off. I’m not suggesting use hot tap water (you already spent money warming it and some scientists would argue not to do this for health reasons). I set a half-gallon jug of water in the sun if I can wait a little in the morning or at least use water in a jug at room temperature, not sitting outside on the north side of my cabin in the morning.

Here’s another step. Consider this. Do you leave the coffee maker on after you brew? Or do you turn it off and immediately pour it in a thermos to keep it scalding hot? Have you ever seen in a convenience store several coffee pots sitting on, 24 hours a day: folks that is a boatload of power. Our convenience stores usually have 3 – 5 varieties of coffee with pots running all day. Granted, once brewed, the pot cycles on and off, using 800 watts and 0 watts, respectively. So for a rough guess, are they on 15 minutes of every hour? (800 watts per hour x 15 minutes / 60 minutes x 4 pots = 800 watts = approximately 47 of the above light bulbs on that whole time).

A step further: Sometimes the thermos is so good at keeping the leftover coffee hot, I can brew every other time and still enjoy hot coffee whenever I want it. Again, this energy efficiency thing is not about interfering in my quality of life or sacrificing things I like. It is about easy-to-do behavior modifications and targeting aspects of power consumption that are ripe for the picking, low-hanging fruit, that have real, tangible results.

For you off-grid solar folks, if I want to supplement power, I have to use my gasoline fired generator. Coffee brewing didn’t present a problem for me with the electrical pot until I had a few cloudy winter days and my batteries drained down a little. I couldn’t see firing up a gasoline gene just to brew a cup of coffee so I use an efficient gas stove with an old-style percolator pot: and of course still immediately transfer into a thermos for use. There are lots more heaters in our homes. I just wanted to give a quick little example here.

Electronics: Computer Screens, TVs, and Appliances: We off-grid folks are constantly trying to minimize our power use, thus building a less costly solar/wind rig. When I buy electronics I look at the watt or amp ratings listed on the back of the units. Are computer screens and TVs heaters? You bet they are. I worked in an engineering office in Phoenix where the guy in the next office was given a second computer screen for his tasks. This new-style screen was a huge heater and thus energy user. Let’s take it a step further. His office become so warm he had to run the air conditioning in the early spring just to be comfortable. Since this air conditioned serviced the whole east side of the office, that one computer screen, used excess energy, and caused the need for the air conditioner to also run using even more energy. (The folks in the other offices also had the side effect that they were now too cold.)

So look at the nameplates on the appliances you buy. The seemingly little differences can really add up on your monthly power bills or the total cost of your solar and wind energy projects.

Looking Forward

I hope this article has given you some real, useable energy cutting tips and some wholesome food for thought. In the upcoming articles I will delve more into home and business solar and wind systems, on- (grid-tied) and off-grid, a few example projects a novice can do, some fine tuning the experienced can do, tax credits available, cost calculations to compare savings, and some good clean engineering humor.

Just think if a large chunk of Americans implemented these two simple and inexpensive energy cutting tools. We could keep more of our cash in our pockets, in our Country, and set a good example for our youngsters of financial prudence and responsible environmental stewardship.

Randy Cooper is a local Heber, AZ professional environmental engineer helping businesses and folks with regulatory compliance, pollution minimization and prevention, and alternative energy projects. He can be reached at acoopenvironmental@yahoo.com.


	Solar and Wind Energy; Our Wise and Efficient Use Part 2 by Randy Cooper Environmental Engineer 09/09/09 Greetings local and visiting high-country folks. I’m pleased to continue this series about how we can use our energy more efficiently and discuss, plan, and/or learn about solar and wind energy. I’ll try and write these so the reader who has read the prior articles can enjoy without a lot or repeat, and the reader reading just one article can still get the feel of what we are discussing in the series. Last week I mentioned my belief that we United States citizens can continue to live a comfortable lifestyle and, at the same time, use energy in a more cost-effective, efficient, cash saving manner. I pointed out that these topics can benefit both the solar and wind newbie and the seasoned user maven, on- or off-grid user. Energy Cutting Tools Last week I stated that the starting point to either, use energy more wisely or, design a solar/wind energy system is the same place: Use energy more wisely. We covered the benefits of compact fluorescent bulbs and this week will address the heaters we use in our homes. These are two of the heavy hitters of energy use. They naturally are the first targets in my energy efficiency and solar and wind design projects Heaters: Do you use any in your home? You may say, “No, I use propane, or wood, to heat in the winter and to heat my water as electricity is so costly”. Well I believe you use many more, and these are huge users of electrical power. Being the heavy hitters, they naturally are also first targets in my energy efficiency and solar and wind design projects. Do you drink coffee? I do. I targeted coffee brewing for power use efficiency improvement first last summer and then further in the winter. I used to brew it on an electric pot. Since I’m operating on purely off-grid power, all heater-type loads are as mentioned above, heavy hitters. Did you know a typical coffee pot draws (uses) approximately 800 watts? I don’t use a microwave so the only bigger draws for me are the big motor draws, my skill saw (must be worm drive), cloths washing machine, the vacuum cleaner, for example. Even the pump I use to transfer water to my water tower uses less than half the watts. Comparing the light bulbs to the coffee pot, (thinking as any good engineer should be to make things relatable), running a coffee pot is like running 10 75-watt incandescent light bulbs; or 47 75-watt equivalent compact florescent bulbs (47 bulbs x 17 watts/bulb = 799 watts or approximately 800 watts). That’s a lot of energy. So what’s the solution? Slightly Modify Our Behavior. I didn’t stop drinking coffee. I didn’t start drinking it cold. I simply added a few steps to coffee brewing. The warmer the water starts at, the quicker the coffee pot turns off. I’m not suggesting use hot tap water (you already spent money warming it and some scientists would argue not to do this for health reasons). I set a half-gallon jug of water in the sun if I can wait a little in the morning or at least use water in a jug at room temperature, not sitting outside on the north side of my cabin in the morning. Here’s another step. Consider this. Do you leave the coffee maker on after you brew? Or do you turn it off and immediately pour it in a thermos to keep it scalding hot? Have you ever seen in a convenience store several coffee pots sitting on, 24 hours a day: folks that is a boatload of power. Our convenience stores usually have 3 – 5 varieties of coffee with pots running all day. Granted, once brewed, the pot cycles on and off, using 800 watts and 0 watts, respectively. So for a rough guess, are they on 15 minutes of every hour? (800 watts per hour x 15 minutes / 60 minutes x 4 pots = 800 watts = approximately 47 of the above light bulbs on that whole time). A step further: Sometimes the thermos is so good at keeping the leftover coffee hot, I can brew every other time and still enjoy hot coffee whenever I want it. Again, this energy efficiency thing is not about interfering in my quality of life or sacrificing things I like. It is about easy-to-do behavior modifications and targeting aspects of power consumption that are ripe for the picking, low-hanging fruit, that have real, tangible results. For you off-grid solar folks, if I want to supplement power, I have to use my gasoline fired generator. Coffee brewing didn’t present a problem for me with the electrical pot until I had a few cloudy winter days and my batteries drained down a little. I couldn’t see firing up a gasoline gene just to brew a cup of coffee so I use an efficient gas stove with an old-style percolator pot: and of course still immediately transfer into a thermos for use. There are lots more heaters in our homes. I just wanted to give a quick little example here. Electronics: Computer Screens, TVs, and Appliances: We off-grid folks are constantly trying to minimize our power use, thus building a less costly solar/wind rig. When I buy electronics I look at the watt or amp ratings listed on the back of the units. Are computer screens and TVs heaters? You bet they are. I worked in an engineering office in Phoenix where the guy in the next office was given a second computer screen for his tasks. This new-style screen was a huge heater and thus energy user. Let’s take it a step further. His office become so warm he had to run the air conditioning in the early spring just to be comfortable. Since this air conditioned serviced the whole east side of the office, that one computer screen, used excess energy, and caused the need for the air conditioner to also run using even more energy. (The folks in the other offices also had the side effect that they were now too cold.) So look at the nameplates on the appliances you buy. The seemingly little differences can really add up on your monthly power bills or the total cost of your solar and wind energy projects. Looking Forward I hope this article has given you some real, useable energy cutting tips and some wholesome food for thought. In the upcoming articles I will delve more into home and business solar and wind systems, on- (grid-tied) and off-grid, a few example projects a novice can do, some fine tuning the experienced can do, tax credits available, cost calculations to compare savings, and some good clean engineering humor. Just think if a large chunk of Americans implemented these two simple and inexpensive energy cutting tools. We could keep more of our cash in our pockets, in our Country, and set a good example for our youngsters of financial prudence and responsible environmental stewardship. Randy Cooper is a local Heber, AZ professional environmental engineer helping businesses and folks with regulatory compliance, pollution minimization and prevention, and alternative energy projects. He can be reached at acoopenvironmental@yahoo.com.