hypermiling the house

[NoCO2]

I can't really judge my actual consumption because of how the apartments where I live are setup, it's hard to tell who's meter is who's (unless of course you're the power company). However, as far as hypermiling my "home" I haven't done too much. I just replaced all the lights in the place with CF lights as the old ones died out and I have everything attached to a surge protector so disconnecting, say my entertainment center which I'm sure uses hundreds of Wh every hour, is just a flick of a switch away. My main problem is my computer habit. I run a home server, my desktop almost 24/7. My desktop I put into suspend when I'm not there, but because of how it is, it's pretty much still on (it's weird) and the server has to be up 24/7 because I haven't figured out a way to make it go to sleep until it's needed (It holds my sensitive personal data, movies and music accessible from my entertainment center and laptop).

I'll have to see what my consumption is at my new place when I move in. Sense they are condos, they are basically setup like homes and they are very well built (insulation and all) so monitoring VIA meter should be easy and efficiency should be high.

[RH77]

Originally Posted by NoCO2

I'll have to see what my consumption is at my new place when I move in. Sense they are condos, they are basically setup like homes and they are very well built (insulation and all) so monitoring VIA meter should be easy and efficiency should be high.

I agree -- apartments are notorious for poor insulation and cheapy-grade appliances.

My last place was a small Townhome -- kinda like a condo (first actual place of my own). It was a sandwiched strip between 2 larger units on the North and South (really inexpensive, and new to boot). Build quality was much better, and the bills were very reasonable (heat pump w/gas backup). I'm pretty sure there was some convection between the walls in the Winter. Selling it was an utter nightmare. After 2-3 years, that style was way overbuilt in that locale.

The biggest problem I found with apartment living, was sealing it up. The sliding glass door leaked, the front door had daylight on the bottom seal and cold air blew through it. ...And good luck getting any assistance from the landlord -- so it became a do-it-yourself'r.

I wonder if it's possible to do something with the hot water tank to have it go dormant at night, but heat the water in time to get up in mornings...?

RH77

[ttoyoda]

Fridges/freezers are designed so screwed up from the point of view of efficiency. If they were designed correctly, the condenser would be outside the house, or at least on top of the fridge somewhere. And there would be a crapload of insulation, say 6-12 inches thick. And then they'd use next to no electricity.

Welcome to 1927
http://www.antiqueappliances.com/mon...rigerators.htm

[NoCO2]

Originally Posted by RH77

I wonder if it's possible to do something with the hot water tank to have it go dormant at night, but heat the water in time to get up in mornings...?

You would have to see how things are hooked up to your water heater (IE: valves and what not). But the idea would be pretty simplistic. You make a servo controlled by a timer, set the timer to turn the servo one way say...1 hour before you plan to getup/shower (your shower would have to be planned and consistant) and when the temperature hits the right level in the tank, it will shut off the gas/electric/etc. and the timer will start over again...the only tricky bit would be linking the tanks temp control to the timer, the timer by itself wouldn't be too hard.

[ajax_6531]

Somebody said something about efficient fridges? See-through doors. This one thing would save just because you wouldn't have to stand in front of an open fridge to decide what you want. Just like the freezer section at your local grocery store.