Doing our bit to cut energy usage

[Haven]

I had a good chat with phatBambi about our (his and mine) desire to be energy efficient and ideally provide our own energy for use in the home. Both of us agreed that solar tiles and a wind turbine would be on our list of things to have in the future. Given that I run a server from home all day every day it makes sense for me to be concerned about such things as I am well aware of how much power this uses.

Well part of that future just got a whole lot closer for me after I found this:

http://windsave.staging.atwwwuk.com/uploads/files/1150995846375_0.8420994150734503.pdf

It plugs directly into the ring main of the house and feeds electricity to the devices that need it. Depending on how much you use it could provide all or part of your energy needs (most likely only part). Given the cost it is not cheap but it is a hell of a lot cheaper than anything else I have found and, for someone who lives in rented accomodation, being able to simply mount it to a solid structure and remove it when I move on would be incredibly convenient. I guess if you were rich enough you could buy two or even three and increase the power available. Combined with cheap UPS systems this could give self sufficiency (2/3'rds of my house is already UPS'd so I'm working towards this).

I am definately going to save for one of these - my aim is to own one within 12 months.

What are you going to do to cut your energy impact ?

 

[Pestcontrol]

Ah yes, it's an old concept to generate power locally and supply your grid through an inverter, basically slowing the meter for the amount of power you generate, or even reverse it. Some of the power companies here have offered these themselves.

That wind generator looks very expensive, a loose inverter and a small loose windmill will have the same effect and be a lot cheaper. Then there is the issue of placing the mill. Your neighbor's probably won't like it if you live in an urbanised area. Then again it's less invasive than solar panels or solar boiler panels, that's true.

Energy is a total consumption affair however (because it's the CO2 output that eventually matters) so it doesn't matter if you save your kilowatts on power, heating, insulation, or petrol for your car. In this respect a sun-boiler, if you live in a reasonably sunny area, saves you most, provided you actually consume the warm water. Too bad washing machines don't come with separate inputs for warm water yet.

A favourite site of mine is www.otherpower.com - it is somewhat centered on offgrid living (i dream of living offgrid one day, just because it's romantic in a strange way. ), but it's a wonderful resource in alternative power and homebrew stuff. It even got slashdotted once.

These are the sort of projects where investigating the possibilities, benefits and costs, and careful planning are very very important, good luck.

As for me, i really should turn off my PC more. I do turn off my monitor when i'm not there, and i've underclocked my server because i don't need the megahertzes anyway. I also don't run stuff like f@h, because that's easily another lightbulb on permanently with the hotheaded athlon XP i have.
For the rest it's a matter of closing doors and turning off the radiators in the winter when you're out or not in the room, and the odd fluorescent light. I've also insulated a few central heating pipes, after reading that was the most cost effective home insulating job you could do, mainly because those sheats of insulation cost very little.

 

[Tetsuo_Shima]

I dont really go for any of this solar panel/wind turbine stuff, I've heard (and believe) that the power they produce just doesnt justify the cost. You'd probably be dead by the time it pays up its deficit. Perhaps in the future with a litte sprinkling of technology here and there we could make something of it, but for now it just seems to be a bit of a novelty at best.

Concerning my own power saving habits, I just generally try and switch things off when not in use and try not to switch on the heating too often. I can see myself being quite power efficient in winter because with my big TV, X360, hifi and computer all in my room (and usually all switched on at once. No really, I'm quite conscious of energy efficiency ) my room is reaching temperatures akin to that of Mercury's surface. It doesnt help either that the TV is currently positioned in front of (but facing away from, obviously) the window, so I have to shut the curtains all the time so I can see the screen and that just prevents air from flowing in the window. I can see myself being nice and toasty come winter

 

[Pestcontrol]

I dont really go for any of this solar panel/wind turbine stuff, I've heard (and believe) that the power they produce just doesnt justify the cost. You'd probably be dead by the time it pays up its deficit. Perhaps in the future with a litte sprinkling of technology here and there we could make something of it, but for now it just seems to be a bit of a novelty at best.

That's an urban legend concerning only solar cells. Snopes mentions nothing but wikipedia does: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cell#Solar_cells_and_energy_payback
Wind turbines of any size don't cost very significant energy to produce in relation to what they generate (no sand to melt into silicon), they've never even been part of the myth for as far as i've heard. Wind's also the most successful form of green power by far, with several european nations, most notably denmark, scaling up and building huge wind parks in the north sea. Larger scale solar happens in other places but usually not using solar cells.

True though, such alternative power at your home is currently not very economic. Fossil fuels are still too plentiful and cheap for that. Realistically speaking placing a windmill or solar panel (save perhaps a solar boiler) probably doesn't get you the CO[sup]2[/sup]-saved-per-pound ratio of other measures, like insulating your home or getting more efficient central heating.

 

[Gizmo-5]

biggest culprit is planes, they fly around 24/7 and as their higher up the CO2 doesnt have the chance to be eaten by plants

ME CLEVER! (I am well aware plants respire, im just too lazy to type it, oh wait...)

 

[Haven]

Note the title "doing OUR bit", what are YOU going to do to make a difference.

 

[Gopha]

Jeez, Field Marshall Kitchener Well I always make sure I flush the toilet, we have a drought down south but We have Solar panels on da roof!

 

[Taffy]

Jeez, Field Marshall Kitchener Well I always make sure I flush the toilet, we have a drought down south but We have Solar panels on da roof!

Ah yes, the drought. It's like living in the desert, except greener.

I'm trying to convince my parents that in the long-run solar panels will save them money and they can give themselves a moral gold sticker for doing their bit to save the planet. They won't have it though.

When I get my own house, i'll have solar panels, wind turbines, you name it, i'll have it. It'd be great to be completely self-sufficient, at least where utilities are concerned.

 

[gringotsgoblin]

biggest culprit is planes, they fly around 24/7 and as their higher up the CO2 doesnt have the chance to be eaten by plants

ME CLEVER! (I am well aware plants respire, im just too lazy to type it, oh wait...)

While planes do cause problems, they only contribute 2% to total carbon emissions, while even low estimates put the gain from airlines at 5% of the worlds' economy.

On top of this, many passengers choose to offset their carbon emissions through donating to charities who in turn plant trees etc. http://www.co2balance.com/home.php

You dont see many 4x4 drivers offsetting their carbon emissions. And airlines are always trying to get maximum fuel efficiency and passenger loading for their flights. While this is profit driven (less fuel, less cost; less cost, more profit) it's still an environmentally friendly policy. SUVs for example get around 16 miles to the gallon, which is ridiculous when ordinary cars can get double that without breaking a sweat! And energy efficient cars can get 3 times that!

 

[DocBot]

I seem to remember a rather ridiculouslky large car which would (I assume) also use up a ridiculous amount of energy to get anywhere?

We have electricity companies here that guarantee you that they won't buy any electricity that isn't "green". Bit more expensive, of course.

My bit: I walk or cycle, or take the tram, whenever I'm going anywhere.

 

[Pestcontrol]

I don't have a car and the longer i can keep it that way, the better. Also SUV's should be banned for everyone except people who actually have to drive offroad. Especially those cheap SUV's like KIA's annoy the heck out of me, you're such a loser if you have to have the biggest car on the cheap. [/rant]

Aircraft cause high altitude cloud cover, thus offsetting some of the global warming they cause.

 

[Haven]

I seem to remember a rather ridiculouslky large car which would (I assume) also use up a ridiculous amount of energy to get anywhere?

The car carries 10 people max - we use it for two things; a weekly shopping trip and a weekly walk where we have 8 people in it. When not being used i.e. most of the time, it doesn't use any fuel. I should also point out its a diesel and we get up to 25mpg when out and about (which with 8 people in it is pretty economical).

I walk/train to work and shadow cycles. Any more fingers you want to point ?

Remeber folks this thread is about YOU, nobody else just YOU.

 

[Pestcontrol]

We have a fireplace we sometimes light, it's open too so it's horribly inefficient and polluting. Then again some of the wood fired would otherwise just be left to rot, producing the same CO2.

But it's just so nice to have a fire. I wonder how wasteful it is if you light it ~10 times a year.

 

[DocBot]

8 people in it.

No seriously, that's exactly what I wanted to hear. it's as good as using public transport.

Any more fingers you want to point ?

Hah! I have nine left, even after you chopped that one off. And I will point them until I get tired or they are all gone.

 

[KillCrazy]

[mod]Split fingers discussion to new thread http://games.thehavennet.org.uk/showthread.php?t=1872[/mod]

 

[pHatBambi]

Just a bit of topical information that surrounds the car emmision debate.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2268154,00.html

Go Kenny boy!

Will add some more to this discussion later.

 

[Taffy]

I seem to remember a rather ridiculouslky large car which would (I assume) also use up a ridiculous amount of energy to get anywhere?

I take it todays word is ridiculous? How ridiculous was this ridiculously large machine?

 

[Gopha]

I take it todays word is ridiculous? How ridiculous was this ridiculously large machine?

Thats just ridiculous!
Well I ride my bike instead of taking my dads taxi

 

[Tetsuo_Shima]

I take it todays word is ridiculous? How ridiculous was this ridiculously large machine?

I think it was this ridiculously large.

(At least I think thats the right model, its the coolest looking anyway. Shame it isnt in 'camo-green' like haven's...)

 

[Haven]

Its not camo green...