OC
06-18-2001, 06:23 PM
Hey all. Regulars readers of the forums probably know that I'm into renewable energy and such. There's quite a bit you can do to reduce your energy bills and your dependence on your local utility. Here are some items and links you might find useful. Just trying to help.
1 - The students living in Humboldt University's Campus Center for Appropriate Technology don't have to worry about California's energy blackouts - the CCAT has been happily "off the grid" since 1991 when students ceremoniously cut the powerlines that connected the 10-room house to the Pacific Gas & Electric Company grid. The CCAT is a living, breathing habitat of workable solutions to energy-light living. Over the past 21 years, hundreds of student residents have refurbished the building to the point that it can function entirely on free, clean power.
CCAT's power comes from solar panels that generate 700 watts a day (stored in basement batteries that will last ten years), a wind turbine, and a generator that runs on "biodiesel" (reformulated cooking oil from the school cafeteria).
When the residents want to run a blender to make a smoothie or watch TV, they have to hop on an exercycle hooked up to an electric generator. (These couch potatoes are in great shape.) And when the CCAT crew hosts an outdoor concert, they all climb aboard the Human-Powered Energy Converter, a combination of 14 linked bicycles that generates enough power to drive a huge sound system.
The CCAT house recycles "graywater" into its gardens, features a dry compost toilet (no sewer waste), and uses nature to heat and cool its rooms. CCAT demonstrates how building a greenhouse on the sunny side of any house is a practical and beautiful way to heat a home.
For dozens of tips on greening your home, see the CCAT website: http://sorrel.humboldt.edu/~ccat.
2 - Electric refrigerators are the biggest electron-suckers in the average home. The Sunfrost system is 600 times more energy-efficient than a standard fridge. The Sunfrost's walls are three-inches thick and its freezer walls six-inches deep. The compressor is so efficient that it runs on 12 volts of DC current (that means you could run it off flashlight batteries). The quiet-running, fanless compressor has only one moving part.
Another design plus: the Sunfrost's compressor is located on top. Instead of sending a constant flow of heated air up and around the box the compressor is trying to keep cold, the heated air simply helps warm the kitchen. Running a Sunfrost saves the equivalent of eight gallons of oil a month. If every household in the US used a Sunfrost, it would save one billion gallons of oil a month - equal to 40 percent of the oil that flows through the Alaska Pipeline. http://www.sunfrost.com
3 - Turn off your stove early and cook your meals more economically by using a simple "hot box." Find a box big enough to comfortably fit your cooking pan or skillet, line it with insulation and a tight-fitting lid. When your meal is brought to full heat, turn off the gas and pop the food into the hot box. You'll never have to "simmer" again. And you'll save energy.
4 - It takes a lot of gas to heat a water tank, and a lot of water flows through a pipe before the hot water reaches the tap. US households waste an estimated 80 billion gallons of water each year running faucets and waiting for the hot water to arrive. Flash heaters provide a solution. These "point-of-use" heaters mount under the kitchen sink or on the bathroom wall and heat the cold water right where it's needed. Also known as "demand heaters," these devices are used widely throughout Europe and Latin America. They can be powered by electricity or natural gas. Because there is no heat loss, these systems have an efficiency rating of .99.
5 - Retrofitting homes just got a big boost from the City of Los Angeles which has joined forces with Global Green USA [227 Broadway, Suite 302, Santa Monica, CA 90401, (310) 394-7700, http://www.globalgreen.org] to publish a 28-page Sustainable Building Program for Residential Rehabilitation. This excellent guide offers concise homeowner advise on solar heating, photovoltaics, green power, tankless water heaters, refrigerator replacements, horizontal axis washing machines, cellulose insulation, engineered lumber, finger-jointed studs, double-glazed windows, non-toxic paints and floor tiles, permeable pavements and water harvesting. Contact: LA Environmental Affairs Dept., 201 N. Figueroa St., No. 200, Los Angeles, CA 90012, (213) 580-1040, http://www.cityofla.org/ead
6 - CA also has a buy-down program to reduce the costs of installing renewable energy systems for your house. http://www.energy.ca.gov/greengrid
1 - The students living in Humboldt University's Campus Center for Appropriate Technology don't have to worry about California's energy blackouts - the CCAT has been happily "off the grid" since 1991 when students ceremoniously cut the powerlines that connected the 10-room house to the Pacific Gas & Electric Company grid. The CCAT is a living, breathing habitat of workable solutions to energy-light living. Over the past 21 years, hundreds of student residents have refurbished the building to the point that it can function entirely on free, clean power.
CCAT's power comes from solar panels that generate 700 watts a day (stored in basement batteries that will last ten years), a wind turbine, and a generator that runs on "biodiesel" (reformulated cooking oil from the school cafeteria).
When the residents want to run a blender to make a smoothie or watch TV, they have to hop on an exercycle hooked up to an electric generator. (These couch potatoes are in great shape.) And when the CCAT crew hosts an outdoor concert, they all climb aboard the Human-Powered Energy Converter, a combination of 14 linked bicycles that generates enough power to drive a huge sound system.
The CCAT house recycles "graywater" into its gardens, features a dry compost toilet (no sewer waste), and uses nature to heat and cool its rooms. CCAT demonstrates how building a greenhouse on the sunny side of any house is a practical and beautiful way to heat a home.
For dozens of tips on greening your home, see the CCAT website: http://sorrel.humboldt.edu/~ccat.
2 - Electric refrigerators are the biggest electron-suckers in the average home. The Sunfrost system is 600 times more energy-efficient than a standard fridge. The Sunfrost's walls are three-inches thick and its freezer walls six-inches deep. The compressor is so efficient that it runs on 12 volts of DC current (that means you could run it off flashlight batteries). The quiet-running, fanless compressor has only one moving part.
Another design plus: the Sunfrost's compressor is located on top. Instead of sending a constant flow of heated air up and around the box the compressor is trying to keep cold, the heated air simply helps warm the kitchen. Running a Sunfrost saves the equivalent of eight gallons of oil a month. If every household in the US used a Sunfrost, it would save one billion gallons of oil a month - equal to 40 percent of the oil that flows through the Alaska Pipeline. http://www.sunfrost.com
3 - Turn off your stove early and cook your meals more economically by using a simple "hot box." Find a box big enough to comfortably fit your cooking pan or skillet, line it with insulation and a tight-fitting lid. When your meal is brought to full heat, turn off the gas and pop the food into the hot box. You'll never have to "simmer" again. And you'll save energy.
4 - It takes a lot of gas to heat a water tank, and a lot of water flows through a pipe before the hot water reaches the tap. US households waste an estimated 80 billion gallons of water each year running faucets and waiting for the hot water to arrive. Flash heaters provide a solution. These "point-of-use" heaters mount under the kitchen sink or on the bathroom wall and heat the cold water right where it's needed. Also known as "demand heaters," these devices are used widely throughout Europe and Latin America. They can be powered by electricity or natural gas. Because there is no heat loss, these systems have an efficiency rating of .99.
5 - Retrofitting homes just got a big boost from the City of Los Angeles which has joined forces with Global Green USA [227 Broadway, Suite 302, Santa Monica, CA 90401, (310) 394-7700, http://www.globalgreen.org] to publish a 28-page Sustainable Building Program for Residential Rehabilitation. This excellent guide offers concise homeowner advise on solar heating, photovoltaics, green power, tankless water heaters, refrigerator replacements, horizontal axis washing machines, cellulose insulation, engineered lumber, finger-jointed studs, double-glazed windows, non-toxic paints and floor tiles, permeable pavements and water harvesting. Contact: LA Environmental Affairs Dept., 201 N. Figueroa St., No. 200, Los Angeles, CA 90012, (213) 580-1040, http://www.cityofla.org/ead
6 - CA also has a buy-down program to reduce the costs of installing renewable energy systems for your house. http://www.energy.ca.gov/greengrid