EnergyConsumption Projects

(Actively-changing projects are linked to the main page)

Service projects

• Energy Walk around your neighborhood; it's fun

At one point showed life

• Home Energy Solutions post on turning off your water heater
• Yahoo Answers
• Solar Powered Garden Lighting
• Go Go Laundry (Soren's local laundromat)

Classic Building Improvement

1. Sealing
2. Insulation
3. Efficient Heating
4. Hot Water 
5. Solar 
6. Air conditioning?

Tried and true (document)

• put things on power strips you can easily turn off
• put a lamp cord switch into the cord for a pesky appliance (e.g. boombox; batteries may preserve settings)
• install a mechanical timer on your bathroom fan so you don't leave it running
• use X-10 home automation to turn (e.g. networking) equipment on only when you need it
• install a programmable timer to automatically save energy when various systems aren't needed
• create a shower stall by putting a clear curtain "roof" on your tub + curtain with high ceiling (see shower analysis below)
• attach a mechanical timer to a periodic use item like a microwave 
•   

On the cusp

• Hot Water Tank Insulation (directions) ... but on which side does the foil go and do I need a gap for the foil to reflect properly?

Perhaps promising

• Hack a Kill-a-Watt - awesome!
• install a time of day thermostat on your water heater
• In warmer months, Soren discovered his pilot light provided enough heat for a daily shower
• Steve G. suggests that reducing heat loss through the flue increases the pilot's effectiveness
• With 60 degree ambient temperatures, Soren has started experimenting more
• It takes four minutes to bring the tank to "lukewarm" just before a shower
• It takes 16 minutes to bring it up to the same point just after a shower
• ~24 hours of pilot light after "lukewarm," the water was noticeably warmer
• HES post about the water heater
• build a power strip with a built-in mechanical timer for charging
• low-power Solar-Powered PC
• Cooler Meter
• Simple Solar Oven / Fast Solar Cooker (pnorth says she'll buy one)
• Solar Bike Light Charger
• Vampire Replacement
• Wheel Generator (http://www.los-gatos.ca.us/davidbu/pedgen.html#FAQ mentions 5% diode loss in rectification AC->DC)
• get a sink in your kitchen that drains to the yard for watering plants with "greywater"

Tools / Project Components

• HOBO data loggers (USB, reasonable cost?)

Inspiring

• http://openenergymonitor.org: an Arduino-based "open-source energy meter" (suitable for building whole-house or per-circuit setups?)
• mapawatt overview of DIY monitoring solutions (per-circuit, per-outlet, etc!) 
• Efficient Shower analyzes what makes a shower comfortable (these fridge guys really care :)
• build a "chest fridge" (supposedly consumes only .1 kWh/day)?
• Berkeley's CS Department is Monitoring their Consumption in Soda Hall
• Kill-a-Watt hacking is getting organized with the Tweet-a-Watt DIY kit.
• Einstein patented a fridge that could work from a solar heat source!
• DIY Solar projects
• DIY Watt Meter
• Prime Mover, Pedal-Powered TV, on pedaling through a power outage.
• Solar Powered Capacitor Storage Automatic Outdoor Lighting
• building up a solar system
• Micro Solar Energy System: Under Cabinet LED Light
• windmill out of old microwaves

from MakeZine

• Remaking America edition has wireless Kill-a-Watt, etc
• Wind Powered Generator
• okay, I swear there was a perfect windmill from junk (workshop?) on makerfaire.com, but when I clicked, another picture loaded and I can'd find it

Sources of The Classics

• RMI's Home Energy Briefs
• PG&E's Energy-Saving Resources

For a former day

• StepItUp07 plan