Submitted By: Greg Wikler (gwikler@gepllc.com)
Challenge
Practicing what we preach has always been an important concept that my wife and I have learned throughout our lives. As a professional consultant in the energy efficiency field for over 20 years, I have to confess that on the home front I wasn’t making a sincere effort to implement the same energy conservation measures and technologies that I have spent my career studying and advising my utility clients to implement. Sure, I would purchase those funny looking light bulbs for the garage and irritate my family by turning off lights and lowering the thermostat during cold winter nights. But I never went very far and looked at other measures and technologies that could lead to meaningful and sustainable long-term energy savings. However, as I began to comprehend the very serious consequences that our world is now facing as a result of our insatiable appetite for energy – depleted oil resources, environmental degradation, and global warming – I knew more than ever that I needed to do more at my home.
Solution Details
Over the past few years, my family has initiated steps to reduce our energy usage and improve our environmental footprint. Greater emphasis is being placed on only using what we need – turning off the lights when we leave the room, installing more compact fluorescent lamps, reducing the thermostat temperature during the winter months (note that we don’t have air conditioning), better management of garden watering, covering the pool to avoid evaporation, recycling plastics and paper, reusing plastic bags and containers, taking more public transit, carpooling to school and work, and riding my bike to my office in downtown Lafayette.
In addition, working with local professionals, we have implemented a number of cutting-edge energy efficiency technologies over the past few months. The first technology is a multi-speed high efficiency pool pump motor. Our old pump was an inefficient 1-horsepower motor that ran constantly for 9 hours a day during the summer months and 7 hours a day during the winter months. The new pump operates at half the power level of the old pump for 5 hours a day during the summer months and 7 hours a day during the winter months. During the summer months, the pump automatically changes to full power for 4 hours a day. During those four hours (2PM to 6PM when the sun is at its most intense level), the pump operates at full power in order to circulate the pool water up onto the roof and through eight new high efficiency solar hot water panels. As a result of the multi-speed pump, we are saving nearly 1,000 kilowatt-hours per year and over $160 in annual energy cost reductions just from the efficient pumping. We are also saving significantly on potential costs to heat the pool and our family enjoys swimming in 75-85 degree water from April through November. According to our pool maintenance professional Stanley Salas of All Season Pools in Concord, we are the first homeowners that he is aware of in this entire region who has implemented the multi-speed high efficiency pool pump motor.
Later this year, we are planning to replace our old gas furnace with a high-efficiency multi-speed furnace with a zoned ducting system. We expect that new furnace will save another 20% off our gas usage and reduce our overall heating costs by over $100 per year. We are also considering installing a photovoltaic power system that would serve more than 100% of our power needs during days when the sun is shining. Any excess power that the photovoltaic system would generate would be sent back through the PG&E meter and made available to the power grid.
My family is very excited about learning more ways that we can make our home energy efficient. We hope that some of the small steps that we have taken might inspire others to follow along.
Benefits & Payback
Included above.
Informational Links
Noritz - tankless hot water systems
