Josh,
Wow, a system that size must run $50K+. And they covered most of it? What is NJ's rebate program structure?

For a while here in the Los Angeles area, if you were supplied by the municipal power system, they were offering rebates up to 85% (not anymore). I'm under Edison rather than the muni system, so I only got 50%.

Mike

 

Here are the program details: http://www.njcep.com/html/2_incent.html

System was something like $50k . . . we spent less than 10. I forgot to mention that I also have full battery backup for 6 important circuits in my house (computers, fridge, WAP, etc...). That portion was NOT covered in the program - out of pocket, but it was obviously installed at the same time.

How does one add a picture? I'll post those too . . . the pv's, grid tie, invertors, charge control units, deep cycle batteries . . . more complicated than I orignally thought it would be!

 

I think I've figured it out . . .


https://www.greenhybrid.com/share/image433.html

https://www.greenhybrid.com/share/image432.html

https://www.greenhybrid.com/share/image431.html

 

Thanks for the link.

I discovered (too late) that the cost is not linear to the amount of kW capacity. My 2.5 kW system retailed for $25k ($10k per kW), and a neighbor's 5.0 kW for $36k ($7.2k per kW). He used the same vendor and equipment as I. The per-kW rebate doesn't distinguish how much you paid per kW, so he had a higher percentage of the cost rebated. I wish I had added another kW or so at the time. To do it now would cost $7.5k to save the remaining $75 per year I pay for electricity (100-year payback, no thanks).

Mike

 

This is the thread that inspired me to start tracking my electricty usage on a day to day basis rather than just once a month via my electric bill. This is also around when I was converting all lighting in my house to CFL's, when my roommate moved out, and when I decided to experiment with just how far I was willing to go in terms of allowable temperature fluctuation to reduce energy consumption.

I've attached a spreadsheet I've been using to track my power usage since I purchased my home way back in early 2000. You can see bar graphs for total usage per year, the individual consumption for each month, and for the last two months or so, you can see where I've been tracking it daily. Part of my motivation for this was when I realized that I spend more on electricity than I do on gasoline every month, and that since I'm already driving about as efficiently as possible, the next logical step in saving money was to reduce electrical consumption.

You can see for the last two or three months, I've been near or better than ever in the history of my home ownership in terms of reduced power usage. For the last couple weeks, I haven't used heat or A/C at all, and virtually all the power usage has been just from the water heater, washer/dryer, fridge, and to a small extent, lighting and computer usage. To have a significant impact now, I think I'd have to buy one of those instant-heat variety water heaters that only heats water when you're actually using it, and has no "tank" to speak of. That might save me 2-3 kw/h a day.

 

Nice job with the reductions. Going after every kWh is addicting, isn't it?

We got our highest savings with: CF lighting, turning off exterior ornamental lighting, setting computers to hibernate, turning off cable modems and wireless hubs overnight, and killing power to all those devices that use those square transformer plugs. The plugs can draw 10-20 watts, even with the device off. You'd be amazed how much those nickel and dime items add up when burning 24/7.

FYI, attached is our monthly and average daily kWh usage for a 2300 sq. ft. house over the past few years. Note the large drop in 2003 when we decided to get serious. Climate is everything - we don't need AC.

Mike

 

Efficiency gains are definitely addictive. Once I purchased a pair of CFL's I couldn't quit until I'd replaced nearly every single light. I used my Kill-A-Watt to benchmark pretty much everything in the house that has a plug, too, in search of areas to improve. The only big unknown at this point is the water heater, but like I said, since I've had two days where I wasn't home and thus only the fridge and water heater were drawing power, I almost know what the water heater uses just to idle itself, but still I wish I could put a power meter on the water heater itself to know for sure.

I'm incredibly impressed with your low usage. Hardly any months month over 15kw/h per day since 2003, and it looks like an average of about 12.5kw/h per day. I assume you have some sort of non-electric heat then? My home has a heat pump, so both the heating and cooling are electric. As mentioned, my water heater's electric too. Basically it's an all-electric house; nothing solar, no natural gas. I might experiment with space heaters this winter to save a little on heat and maybe get low-E window treatment for my glass before next summer. Based on my usage now versus my usage in July, it looks like 75% of my July bill was A/C. Too bad it's so dang expensive for the very high SEER rated heatpumps. Payback on a $9000 unit is longer than how long it would probably last in the first place.

 

About the tankless heaters- I've thought about them, but I'm not sure they save for a family-size household- capacity is simply not there for 5gpm @120deg for electric models. They claim it, but I've had 3 installers tell me it just ain't there. For small households they should work great.

Have you put the heater on a timer? shut it off except for a few hours before you use hot water, and wrap the heater in another layer of insulation.

My ideal would be a tankless instant heater at each point of use. Only one run of piping through the house- fewer points of pipe failure, and if one heater goes you still have hot water at the other spots.

As for the quiescent transformer loads- I'd love to install a DC voltage bus through the house, supplying 12V regulated down locally or multiple busses (nightmare wallplate!). A single mongo power supply is more efficient than many small ones, and something is almost always drawing a load, so the quiescent power isn't like an idling engine- there is always a real load somewhere. Modern houses have enough DC power demands to make that an interesting build option, although many items that have the brick internally (PCs, DVD, etc) and would require some wiring mods. This dosn't solve the clock-in-the-microwave problem, though- those phantom loads will remain.

Even better would be switching power supplies instead of bricks. <<1W drawn at idle, but lots of RF noise (like in CFLs). I think only 1 place has them commercially available, and they are very pricey.

 

We're all natural gas for heating, cooking, etc.

 

I have on-demand hot water, but its fired through the oil burner, which sort of sucks.

Electric is down to less than $1 per day.
Gasoline is tracking at $2.21 per day (for my commuting car, not other vehicles).

HOME HEATING OIL is the bill I have to work on reducing now!

I've got a couple cords of wood for this winter, but getting the heat through the rest of the house is by far the biggest challenge, and there is no easy answer for my hot water issues.

good thread all!