Good Day Sunshine!!!

And for those Ice Cube fans in the crowd... "Today was a good day. I didn't even have to use my AC."  I took a little creative license there...


The screenshot below is what a perfectly sunny day looks like.


Mild temperatures, no air conditioner, and lots of sun = 48 kWh (and money) in the bank today.

Happy weekend!

My Home Energy Monitor

In my last post I listed a chart that showed a breakdown of my home's energy use, energy production from my photovoltaic system, and my utility meter from mid January of this year through yesterday.  This chart was generated by my Powerhouse Dynamics Emonitor, which is cool little device that monitors all twenty-four electrical circuits in my home and beams that information over the internet to an API that tracks and trends a wealth of information.


Every electron flowing to an electronic device in my home is accounted for, which allows me to look deep inside the workings of my home and identify those appliances that will keep my kids out of expensive private colleges!  The API rolls up the data to show me the big offenders, such as my air conditioner, as well as those phantom power sucking little guys like my TiVo.

The eMonitor dashboard shows the amount of power I'm producing (none at the moment since the sun has already set), what I'm using, and how much energy I'm pulling from the electric utility.  Also listed here is my carbon footprint, which in my case is zero due to our producing more energy than we consume.

You'll also notice the "Phantom Power" icon, which shows those devices that are drawing power nearly constantly.  These could be items such as cable boxes, DVRs, old stereos or other appliances.  As you can see, phantom power can cost you a significant amount of money over time.  I've got some handy, simple and cheap fixes for this that I'll discuss in a future post.

The pie chart shows me where I'm using energy on a 30-day rollup basis, where I stand as far as cost for the month, and what the top four energy offenders are (Bad air conditioner!).

With this data I am able to both drive my family crazy through frequent consumption lectures and, at the same time, identify where I can make changes to save cash.  I can easily justify replacing old appliances based on cost or simply choose to unplug those energy wasters that are not in use. The eMonitor even has a report card and gives me tips on how to reduce my consumption.


The additional interesting capability of the eMonitor is that it can control other "smart" (Zigbee) devices in you home, such as a WiFi enabled thermostat like the one that I own (more on this later).


Probably the most amazing feature of the Powerhouse Dynamics eMonitor is the fact that I can monitor my home electric use through the internet no matter where I am (there's even an iPhone app).  No more worrying about leaving a light or the oven on! As it will even text me alerts if something doesn't seem right. Since I can also control my thermostat with it, I can turn off my air conditioner (my largest electricity user) when I leave for a few days and turn it back on with my smartphone from the road on my return. I recently learned that WiFi enabled electrical outlets will be added to the eMonitor offering, which will allow me to be able to remotely control individual appliances.


The eMonitor can be purchased from Amazon.com and other retailers. I purchased mine from energycircle.com and prices vary depending on the number of circuits you would want to monitor and if you would also like to include power production (solar, wind, etc...).  While it is a bit pricey you'll likely recoup your money in a few years time (or less) with the savings you'll be able to achieve once you have the energy use data in hand.


I chose the eMonitor due to the fact that is was the only circuit by circuit energy monitor on the market at the time (January 2011).  There are others devices on the market that monitor a few circuits, such as the TED device that I've heard good things about, but to me, the extra information provided by the eMonitor saved me time in chasing down the energy wasters in my home, so there was some extra value there.


I was able to install the device myself, but I wouldn't recommend that job for just anyone.  Placement of the sensors that connect from the hot wire on each electrical circuit to the eMonitor requires you to remove the cover and place your hands inside of your circuit breaker box. I did this with the power shut off (and locked out) at the main coming into my house, on a weekend with my wife and kids away.


Anyway, I wanted to mention that I learned about the eMonitor from the TWiT Green Tech Today netcast, which I've embedded below.  I also wanted to mention that Jason Chen over at Lifehacker recently wrote a great review (much better than mine) that I would also recommend.



For those searching for a commercial solution, Powerhouse Dynamics now has a version of the emonitor for you as well.


Happy monitoring!

July Energy Production - Still Positive Territory!

I know I haven't written about this yet, but I have a 10 kW solar array on my home. I'm planning a post on the economics of purchasing the system and probably most importantly, the payback, but July was a big month for us.  Given the extreme temperatures we saw in Pennsylvania and the amount of time that our air conditioner had to run, I was not optimistic at our chances of producing more power than we use. Well the results are in (Emonitor and Enphase Enlighten data) and we edged it out by about 240 kW hours.


This keeps us on pace for about a 5 year pure payback and a positive cash flow situation in year 1. More to come on this...

Starting Off Slow… How to Kill-A-Watt

First things first! You’ve probably heard the old adage, “if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” Well, when it comes to energy use, that couldn’t be more true. Especially when considering electricity because it isn’t something that you can see or feel unless something has gone terribly wrong!

My favorite example of this is what can be referred to as the “Prius Effect.”  This may come as a shock to everyone, but I drive a Toyota Prius. You know, one of those bubble looking things that runs partly on electric, partly on gasoline and sometimes both at the same time. Often seen sporting a “Coexist,” “Buy Fresh Buy Local,” and/or a “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” bumper sticker.  Well, the Prius has this cool little feature that allows you to see your real-time gas mileage as you drive (see below).  It turns out that when you present a person with real time consumption data, they have a tendency to change their consumption habits for the better.  This screen shows you how breaking and use of the throttle can dramatically impact your fuel economy.  It’s like a video game where every time you drive your car, you’re trying to achieve a new high score.

 

This data/behavior relationship is also true for your home.  However, If you’re like most people (my electric company pays me, but more to come on that), you probably receive a bill from your electricity provider every month with some mysterious dollar amount that they claim you owe them. You might have some idea where all that cost is coming from, but mostly it’s a guess.  If you had a way of telling where electricity was being used, you might be able to intelligently impact that number and keep some of your money.

Well, good news! There are now many devices on the market at various price ranges that allow you to see where you’re spending money and some even tell you what you can do about it. 

The first and least expensive is one of my personal favorites.  It’s the Kill-A-Watt EZ from P3 International and can be purchase from your local Home Depot or similar store for less than $30.

The Kill-A-Watt EZ can simply be plugged into an outlet near an electronic device.  Once plugged in, you can enter what you pay per kilowatt hour (which you can find on you electric bill) and plug the device you would like to measure into the Kill-A-Watt.  Use the device you’ve connected to the Kill-A-Watt and it will tell you what that device costs you in the way of electricity use on a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis.  The longer you use the Kill-A-Watt with the device you are measuring, the more reliable the cost/consumption data.

Here’s a nice video on how it works.

http://youtu.be/9-EA3Zhgy9c

If you’re looking to start with some big consumption items to measure with the Kill-A-Watt, try your refrigerator as they are one of the largest energy hogs in most homes especially if your refrigerator is not EnergyStar rated.  In fact, if you have an older refrigerator, which is the beer fridge in a lot of homes, it’s probably costing you  at least $100/year over what an EnergyStar qualified refrigerator would, which makes for some expensive beer!  Check out USEPA’s EnergyStar information on refrigerators for more information. You can even plug in information about your refrigerator on their site and it will tell you how much it’s costing you.

That’s it for now. Next time, more on whole house energy monitors like the Powerhouse Dynamics Emonitor, which I have installed in my home, as well as information on phantom power.

Kickoff!

In the spirit of the recently ended NFL lockout and seeing as how this is the inaugural post, I felt “Kickoff” was appropriate as a title. Hopefully I don’t outkick my coverage, so anyway, here we go…

The general gist of this blog is based on the idea that the cheapest unit of energy (for a number of reasons) is the one that you can avoid consuming.  Being a self proclaimed “energy geek” I’ve dedicated my life and irritated my friends, classmates, relatives, coworkers, and anyone else in ear shot with my constant search for new and innovative ways to reduce my personal energy use and help others do the same.  I've named this blog “Potentially Energetic” mostly because “Potential Energy” was already taken.  Also, for those that know me, you know that I can be rather passionate (to say the least) about the topic, so I felt “Potentially Energetic” was appropriate for that reason as well.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy my rants and attempts at humor, but also find some of the product reviews and links I post both relevant and helpful to you!

Cheers,

Dennis