Standby and Operational Loads Analysis

In addition to our standard audit and our project consulting services, we offer a Standby and Operational Loads Analysis.  This analysis is cost-effective for homeowners seeking to reduce their electrical loads in order to cover a larger portion of their electrical use with a smaller photovoltaic system, or can be used by homeowners who want to be able to brag about how low their power bill is.  The Loads Analysis takes about three hours, utilizing a Kill-a-Watt device and The Energy Detective or Blue Line PowerCost Monitor to obtain and analyze detailed data about passive and active electrical loads throughout the house. 

However, for many homes, it would not be cost-effective to hire us to perform this analysis.  If you are interested in performing the analysis yourself, you can utilize the protocol developed by the Florida Solar Energy Center, utilizing a Kill-a-Watt or similar device and a BlueLine Power Cost Monitor, The Energy Detective (TED), or similar device, and record the data on a breaker loads spreadsheet.  Here is an example of the resulting data. 

We have a couple TED and BlueLine Power Cost Monitors available for rent if you would like to utilize one for a few weeks.  They work with the traditional and the new Smart Meters.

On-going Electric Load Monitoring

Studies have found that if homeowners are interested in reducing their electricity use and have convenient, real-time access to information about how much electricity they are using, they can reduce their electricity use by an average of 13.3%.  (Danny Parker et al., "Evaluating Energy Use Feedback Devices", Home Energy at 36-39 (July/Aug 2008).)

The PG&E's roll-out of Smart Meters has the potential to make real-time electricity use data available to homeowners.  PG&E and Google are both working on bringing that functionality to market.  Now that Emerson Environmental's office has a new Smart Meter, we look forward to seeing the roll-out of real-time data tracking to the general population -- but until then, we will keep using our BlueLine Power Cost Monitor.

Entertaining Links

"Insulation is sexy stuff."  President Obama (Dec. 15, 2009).

http://www.kqed.org/quest/radio/lets-weatherize, "Let's Weatherize", KQED (April 27, 2009).

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/187368/october-08-2008/the-second-presidential-debate at 3:45 Steven Colbert discusses weatherization (Oct. 8, 2008).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pezKEkBIhqA "Double Panes",  www.grassfedfilms.org, Green Buildings music video, Stanford University, CEE 176A - Energy Efficient Buildings, Winter 2009, By: Megan Kerins, Nick Schlag, Will Bishop.