I'm a fan of Earth2Tech.com and have been a subscriber for a long time now.  While goign through my reader Friday night I was struck by the post "Graphic: The Environmental Impact of Computing".  Being in the IT industry for almost 10yrs, this graphic really took me by surprise. 

It's funny, I work in the IT world by day and homesteading/renewable energy by night/weekend.. ok every free chance I can away from work.  So I have some mixed feelings about technology and computing.  I feel although the article and following graphic is interestingly gloom, computing and technology has many upsides and has helped the environment in many ways.  I for one used to commute daily and now work from home, used to get the paper daily and now read online (same for books, sales flyers etc...), used to get all my statements by mail which means paper, manufacturing, transportation etc.. now all done online.  I could go into more examples but you get the point.  I would love to see the source data behind the graph and also have the same company (InfoGraphicWorld.com) create the same type of graph with the benefits of computing/computers.  Wonder how they would compare?  What do you think... good or bad?  Check it out yourself:

Courtesy of TheEnergyDetective.com

A while back I wrote a post called Help Reduce Electrical Bill Consumption.   That post focused on using electricity monitoring devices to help identify waste/phantom loads, reduce overall consumption and have a method to monitor daily electricity usage.  Since that article i bought the TED 1001 unit and have been using it for the past 6 months.  Here is a follow-up review and what I think of it.

Install instructions are very easy to follow and I had it wired within a half hour.  If you are not comfortable with opening up the electrical panel, please contact a licensed electrician.  The unit comes with a Transmitter and Gateway.  Follow their simple install instructions.  Paraphrasing the install: connect the MTU clip-ons to the electrical mains that feed the electricity to your electrical panel the wire the Transmitter (MTU) to the breaker and you're done.The MTU sends the data through the existing electrical wiring of the home.  The Gateway/receiver will receive the packets once a second through any electrical outlet in the home.  This was one of my favorite features cause I wanted the receiver to be flexible in location, but not have to fumble with batteries.  To me this is a great feature.

Once I had the receiver plugged in and receiving data, it took about 10mins using the instructions to configure for my utilities 2 tiered billing system.  Again the menu driven setup and instructions are very well detailed and easy to follow.

Next I installed Footprints data logging software and connected the Gateway to my computer via USB.  Software has 2 parts: TED Watcher and TED Viewer.  The TED Watcher is a low real-estate, neat little screen you can run on the desktop that simply displays the current kW or $$ or CO2 usage and does not interfere with desktop usage.  The TED Viewer is the visual interface used to display a live dashboard containing Present Readings, Real-Time KW Usage and Recordings (TED Footprints Screenshots).  I can describe them here, but pictures are worth a thousand words so check out the screenshots.

I would have to estimate that since installing our unit, we have reduced our overall energy consumption by at least 10% so far.  It's hard to gauge since we were heating with Heat pump and E.Furnace but now 100% wood so although our monthly power bills have gone down by a good sum, I don't have enough historical data to say how much was saved by monitoring TED, setting up the Load Profile and then making changes to drop phantom loads and use larger appliances more efficiently.

Courtesy of Greentelecomlive.com

Since I bought the 1001 unit, The Energy Detective has released the new 5000 series unit.  As much as I love my 1001 unit, I think I'm already going to upgrade to their 5000 Series which has all the same features of  my 1001 unit plus:

• Works with Google PowerMeter
• Realtime energy monitoring via Internet or mobile device, not just local computer like Footprints
• Wireless PDA looking display with rechargeable batteries and charging cradle
• Optional Wind/Solar package
• Net-Metering capable
• Can be used with Home Automation Systems

The options I love the most with the new unit is the wireless rechargeable display and the fact that the Gateway, when connected to your wireless router, is available through your favorite browser.  Right now I have a dedicated computer that is physically attached to my 1001 gateway, which is great, but it would be awesome to use any computer in the house or with a few firewall changes on my router, be able to view my stats from anywhere I have Internet access. 

In conclusion to this long post, I would recommend the TED to anyone, and I do to anyone who will listen.  You WILL save money just by being consious of your consumption and even more as you fine tune your usage.  Cost will depend on what model/options you want, the number of electrical panels you want to monitor and if you want the footprints display... worth every penny spent so far for me.  I'd be interested to hear from anyone else who is using TED or any other electrical monitoring product....cheers!

In other articles I've discussed that the first step to becoming more energy efficient and planning for renewable energy system implementation is to know exactly what you are consuming.  Once you are able to fully understand your consumption habits, it's easy to "pick the low hanging fruit" and make some rather drastic changes that are better for the environment and your wallet.

In our home, we've made some changes to reduce our energy consumption and have seen some encouraging results.  Our second step is now to pin point exactly where our current reduced electric loads are coming from and to fine tune them before planning for a renewable energy system implementation.  This is where research on Smart Electricity Monitors came into play.  For us, it came down to 3 choices:

Kill A Watt from P3 International is a single plug monitor that you can use to monitor and bench mark each 110v outlet and do all the calculations manually.  Although the cheapest option, not really a candidate for what we wanted to achieve as there is not "total home consumption" real-time monitoring, history to run reports and trending and the biggest downfall being it could not monitor 220v large appliances.  We still may purchase a couple of these are they are very affordable, have great reviews and can give you "at the plug" readings.

Cent-a-Meter was a close second as it is a home energy consumption model that is connected to your entrance electrical panel via CT clips and monitors real time electricity used.  It has a nice wireless receiver that you can bring around the house if you wish.  The cons of the product is it uses batteries for the sending unit and the receiver.  It provided the real-time data I was looking for but no software for archiving, trending etc...

T.E.D, The Energy Detective is the unit we actually purchased.  This unit has great reviews and bundled with the Footprints software, does everything I ever wanted and then some.  It does not require batteries, however it does use panel electricity to operate.  About .08cents a month according to the site.  It also comes with CT clips for easy installation and the receiver unit plugs into any wall outlet.  I purchased the additional software package Footprints so I can connect the receiver to a computer via USB and see a real-time dashboard chalk full of information including 13 month historic data retention. 

Stay tuned for a full product review on The Energy Detective once I receive and set it up to see if it stands up to it's claims on their website.  In the meantime check out this video review from Mavromatic which is very well done and detailed.

What electricity monitor do you have setup in your home?  Has it been of value?  Has it contributed to reducing your energy consumption?  Has it paid for itself?  Questions i'll be answering myself as well...

Courtesy of The Energy Detective

PART 1

Before you start shopping for Solar Panels and related Solar Power Equipment, you must first determine your electrical consumption to size the system that is required to meet your needs. It is more cost effective to reduce consumption then to produce or harness the Solar Energy. There is no need to buy everything immediately. It is easier to proceed one step at a time and avoid buying equipment that will have to be replaced later.

Start by listing the electrical equipment that will be used and determine how energy will be consumed. There are products such as the cent-a-meter that is wired directly to your electrical panel and can be used to monitor and trend your electrical use. This research, monitoring and planned reduction will open your eyes as to how much electricity we waste. The more accurately you define your energy requirements, the easier it is to determine which photovoltaic energy system meets your expectations.

After you have accurately defined your present and extrapolated future needs and identified your consumption habits, you can decide what size of system you need. Some of the factors that need to be considered include:

• the seasonal profile of the load, i.e. the period when electricity demand is highest and electricity output is lowest, which is usually in fall or winter.

• the weekly/monthly profile of the load.

• the daily profile of the load (power required and number of hours per day) for each appliance.

• -type of load to be powered (motors, lights, etc.)

As the consumption for each household is different, so will the configuration of the system. Just remember, you do not have to create a 100% self sufficient Solar PV Array or invest hundreds of thousands of dollars to setup an off-grid or grid-tie renewable energy system. Start slow, research and plan... the point is to start and take action. Keep it Green!