(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Ask Solarman: Some Basics [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-07-16 Welcome to this column, in which we’ll explain pretty much anything you want to know about the practical actions we can take to reduce our own carbon emissions- as individuals, property owners, renters, and businesses. Answering your questions will be the highest priority. So ask away! My own topics will be largely about the economics, because without addressing the money– what does it cost and how does it pay for itself– very little gets done. Sadly, we do not yet place a value on the destructive effects of carbon emissions. Property insurers are aware now and placing value on the destruction emissions cause. They may drive more comprehensive valuation of spewing particulates, methane and CO2. Whether you own or rent you can reduce your carbon emissions. LIGHTING: Roughly 14% of your electricity usage is lighting. Of course this may be less if you’ve switched some incandescents to other techs. Retrofitting every light fixture with LED bulbs reduces your energy use so your solar system can be smaller, saving money. Make the full change to LEDs and save a lot of money. Pretty much everyone is in this transition, slowly replacing lights as they burn out. Because of this, on average homes will reduce usage by 8%. Install equipment to make your electrical system more efficient. Now, there’s a lot of black box junk on the market, with lots of claims. My long term associate Mike Smith has tested a lot of these products. The two he selected, to represent, are the KVAR Energy Controller (KEC) and the USES Power Conditioner. KEC: Have an electrician install this device on the top left breaker in your electrical panel. From there it treats your entire electrical system. It is a capacitor and a Power Factor (PF) correction device. As a capacitor is briefly stores electricity, allowing it to cushion motor startup spikes. Power Factor is the efficiency of your electrical system. PF of 1 is perfect but no on has that. In testing thousands of homes on the Front Range, Colorado, we found the typical house has a PF of .80 or .85. If your PF is .85 it means 15% of the electricity you’re using is wasted, just heat buildup in your motors. The KEC improves PF to ~.96. Your motors will run 10ºF cooler, they’ll take less power to start up and use less power while running. This only works on inductive loads, but you have lots of those in your home. The small grey box on left is the KVAR Energy Controller. Now, a couple decades ago the KEC was reversed engineered in China and knocked off, very badly. This gave it energy controllers bad rap on the internet. The original KEC, made in Florida, is a fine piece of equipment. I have one on my home and have installed them on some 800 mostly residential solar projects. I developed a simple formula for predicting power savings. Tally your annual electricity usage in kilowatt hours (kWh). Divide by 1,000 and that’s the percentage you’ll save. If you use, say, 9,800 kWh/year it’ll reduce your usage by 9.8%. Not bad for about $300 plus an hour of electrician time. www.kvar.com USES: This power conditioner is patented and manufactured by a company in Connecticut. My various development/sales companies (I’m now retired), sold many projects with this brand. Investors deemed it bankable when nothing else but LEDs and solar were. That’s because for commercial projects the manufacturer guarantees the savings. USES PCs are GSA approved and have been installed into many government buildings. I’ve heard they’re installed in the White House but haven’t sought confirmation. The USES, like the KEC, gets installed on your electrical panel. It does a lot more than the energy controller. The formula to predict reductions is annual usage divide by 1,000 then add 2. If you use 9,800 kWh/year this will reduce by 11.8%. It costs a lot more but has a truly immaculate reputation. estechgrp.com The next topic will be how a solar photovoltaic (PV) saves you money. Here’s a brief note, to be followed in detail next time. Home solar projects either connect to the electric Grid or don’t. If they do it’ll be under rules called Net Metering (NEM). About 40 states have NEM laws. Your solar photovoltaic system generates electricity, supplying your electrical panel. You use this power instead of buying it from the utility. If your system produces more than your home needs, on a moment-to-moment basis, the rest flows to the Grid and you get credited. Normal Net Metering credits you for each kilowatt hour (kWh). You bank the extra kWh and use those credits later. NEM is getting attacked by utilities across the country. It is nearly eliminated in California as of 4/15/23. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_metering [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/7/16/2181539/-Ask-Solarman-Some-Basics Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/