Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I guess I must be a minority, but I am very disheartened by some of the attitudes towards power usage. Australia is one of, if not the, highest user of power per capita. To suggest that having an average power usage in Australia is acceptable, in my opinion is way off the mark.

There are going to be a number of huge wakeup calls in the near future (10 years or less is my guess), I can only suggest that if you can, reduce your power usage, not increase it...

For Queenslanders, if you hadn't heard, the state government is willing to pay 44c/kWh for excess power produced from solar that is put back onto the grid (i.e. during the day when generating more power than you use). Current purchase price is around 15c/kWh. That Chappo, is power you get paid for...

44c/kWh very nice. i was doing some research aon puting up a solar array for when we buy out house. W website by sharp electronics ( http://www.sharpusa.com/solar/ez_calcul ... -0,00.html ) gave us an estamate that a system would cost around $22000 US and would take about 35 years to payfor itself. and that was for a measly 27 kWh per day.

The ironic thing was i tested a few different consumption rates. and the more you consume (higher kWh/day) the larger the system they designed, and the faster it paid for itself. Almost beats trying to conserve energy, at least when looking at rate of return on your investment.

mylesau - Then there are 2 of us!
what is your power consumption?

Still in my dreams Myles... having enough trouble getting the landlady to connect off-peak...

Still with power and water rates going up..... think I'll have a valid arguement to at least go solar HWS soon.... of course I'll point out that it will actually be an investment for the future if she were ever to sell the house in the future

I would be quite happy to live in a couple of buried sea containers - aparently I'm not allowed

apparantly you'd have trouble breathing as well OBO

Only for a little while

If we could get 44c/kwh for solar - I would do it straight away.

Good to know C1 - our power usage is back on the first page of this thread - not to different from yours

F&F,
I also use LPG as my "propane replacement fuel" for our cook-top.
While we do use some mains power, our solar power system provides most of our power needs but I do not meter that power, so cannot compare with others' usage.
Our water heating is done in the hot-back of the wood fire, with solar providing summer hot water.
Most of our mains power usage is for the 3 phase pumps which provide our water supply and for the oven, little or none for electric solar booster (turned off) and defunct reverse cycle air conditioner.
Our electricity usage from the grid averages 9KWH per day.($1.49)

Regards,
Tony
ps 2.5KWp Solar Power system with 48V 550AH battery and 4.2KVA Inverter.

Myles,,,Sorry mate but I don NOT understand what that is suppose to mean,,,I don't get paid for any power.

At 44cents per KWH,,i'd be surely interested in supplying,,,

Chappo, I googled "supplying power to the grid" and come up with a number of sites, this can be redefined to Aus sites and to different state govts

Hi all,

I am at work so I can't provide my KwH usage, but one thing I would like to add comes from my personal experience.

I used to perform energy audits for people on behalf of the Alternative Technology Association. I would go into peoples houses and advise them on how to reduce their energy usage. As a result I saw a lot of houses and their energy usage.

One thing that I know from going to so many different houses is that there is no such thing as an average with respects to energy usage. There are just sooo many variables that it is impossible to compare your usage with others.

The obvious variables can include things such as:

Appliances used
How long used for
How efficient
Insulation
Positioning of the house
etc.

The not so obvious ones include:

Do you have Pelmets above your curtains
Drafts around doors
How many down-lights do you have
Where is your electric hot water service positioned
How many windows do you have
etc

The only real way you can establish if you are being energy efficient is to compare your usage with the same period in previous years. And buy energy efficient appliances.

As I mentioned, I don't know what my actual KwH is atm but I do know that, at about the same time that I installed by pump in my system, we invested in a 4 star rating fridge.

Since making those two purchases, my electricity KwH had decreased slightly. This means that the energy efficient fridge has actually reduced my usage by more than my pump has added.

Not a bad outcome if you ask me......

Simon

Yep, I get that

The point I would try to make Chappo is that you've gone on an awful lot about using cheap power, but I would suggest that it is not cheap at all. Think of your kids future if nothing else.

Simon, I agree with most of what your saying though the only thing in your lists that is actually hard to change/fix is the positioning of your house, and in respect to heating and cooling, there are a number of things you can do to help, even if your house is poorly positioned.

I realy don't get your logic with the following though:

This type of comparison is only useful if you are a high user who has much to gain. If you are already energy efficient this type of comparison tells you nothing, except that perhaps you are still doing well... One has to be careful about simply buying more energy efficient appliances - the costs associated with manufacture, transport etc. and the disposal of any existing appliance has to be factored in. Sometimes it is much better to keep what you have.

If you were to weigh up the price of purchasing a number of new/replacement energy efficient appliances compared to installing solar panels, you might be surprised to find it more cost effective to install solar panels.

A very quick, and rough, comparison:
1 x energy efficient fridge (VestFrost) ~ $2,000 @ 0.45 kWh/day
1 x energy efficient freezer (VestFrost) ~ $1,500 @ 0.6 kWh/day

Depending on which state your in, and now, how much money you earn in a year, you should be able to purchase a small, 1 kW solar system (grid connect) for between $1,000 and $4,000 (after rebates etc).

A 1 kW solar system will generate anywhere between 2.5 - 5 kWh each day - more than enough to keep your current, inefficient, fridge and freezer happy...

Hi mylesau,

What I meant regarding comparing usage is that there is no point comparing your usage to usage in another house simply because there are too many variables.

As to comparing with a bill from the same time in a previous year, that will be a good indicator of whether you are getting better, worse or staying the same re: energy efficiency. It sounds obvious but you should not compare your energy usage with any bill other than the one in your own home covering the same period in previous years. I mentioned it only because I was constantly surprised by people who would ask my why their bill in August was higher then their bill in May. I would have to explain to them that their May bill covered March, April and May and their August bill covered June, July and August so their August bill will also include heating etc. What is obvious to some might not be obvious to others....



As for my statement "Buy energy efficient appliances", in some part I agree with what you are saying. It might be better to keep the one you have. But not always. Take for instance changing your light bulb to an enegy efficient compact Fluorescent Lightbulb (CFL).

Some people don't want to change over because CFL's are too expensive. This is not true if you consider the cost over the life of the bulb. To demonstrate.

Lets make some assumptions.
Energy is being billed at 15 cents per kWh.
CFL costs $10 each, Incandescents cost 50 cents each.
CFL have a life-span of 8000 hours (on average). Incandescents 1000 hrs (on average)

A 100watt incandescent bulb can be replaced by a 20watt CFL (an accurate assumption I might add).
Ok, to get the same duration of lighting with an incendescent to match an CFL, I will need to purchase 8 bulbs = $4.00
100watts = 1.5 cents per hour running. Over 8000 hours that equals 12000 cents or $120.
Add the two together and that equals $124

1 CFL = $10
20 watts = 0.3 cents per hour. Over 8000 hours that equals 2400 cents or $24.
Add the two together and that equals $34. A massive difference.

Others refuse to use CFL's because they contain Mercury.
Burning coal to generate electricity also produces Mercury.
The CFL over 8000 hours will use 160 kWh.
The Incandescent over the same period will use 800kWh.

The end result is that the Incandescent bulb will result in more mercury being released directly into the atmosphere. The CFL, if disposed of correctly (and the council in the town I live in encourage CFLs be handed to the council so they can be disposed of) will result in considerably less mercury getting into the environment. Even if the CFL breaks, the amount of mercury that is in the bulb is minute (average of 4 milligrams according to the following government link http://www.energystar.gov/ia/partners/p ... ercury.pdf) so the net amount of mercury getting into the environment is about the same as the amount produced by using an incandescent bulb.

So, is it best to keep the same appliance? In some instances it is, in some instances it isn't if you consider the entire lifecycle of the appliance.

But, if you are going to get a new appliance, buy an efficient one! It will save you money over the life of the appliance.



This is an interesting discussion that I have had many times while volunteering for the ATA. To keep the answer short (as I have already waffled on too much IMO), if you spent the money to get an energy efficient appliance, when you then save up enough money to buy your 1kW solar panel, now it will generate enough electricity to run your enegy efficient fridge, energy efficient freezer PLUS the TV, radio, pond pump and computer.....

Simon