Electric usage

[ralper]

Since I retired I have more time to think about many things. I ponder the necessity to maintain sun light brightness in parking lots and on streets all night. It seems to me that safety can be maintained with somewhat less light. IMHO a lot less light. I hear about our dependence on foreign oil. Questioning the use of excess lighting and changing to only what is really needed would save considerable oil used to generate electricity.

Power companies advertise that using electricity is 100% efficient. Not so. Burn gas or oil to heat your house and hot water and you get 70% to 96% efficiency. Burn the same oil at a power plant to heat your house and hot water with electric and the efficiency is about 28% of the fuel used to generate that electric. I do think that electric is the fuel of the future. Fusion atomic power needs to come into being first.

Alternate sources of energy are said to add very little to our power demands. IMHO every little bit helps. My electric needs were met with solar last summer for 6 weeks while boondocking in NW CO.
Here in Tucson, AZ I see solar panels on the bus stops to light them at night. I see solar panels at gas and oil well heads. There are also antennas there. I guess they are being monitered by radio signals. There are solar panels all over the place along the highways and byways of the country. Observe them on your next trip. If it is not viable, why is it being used to this extent ????
In Durango, CO an RV place had a roof full of photovoltaic panels. They get 25%of their power from them.

All the christmas lights are not very green but they sure are pretty.

Think about being a little green and do a little conserving in 2011. This will save you money too!

[RustyJC]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ralper If it is not viable, why is it being used to this extent ????

Generally, solar is used in remote locations such as oil and gas wellheads because there's no realistic alternative. These locations are normally remote from the grid and running electricity from the grid to the locations isn't economically feasible. Ditto the road signs, etc.

Rusty

[Ray,IN]

While staying at the Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque, NM I noticed they have a solar test station across the street. They test different brands of panels, lights, and configurations. Some of their nearby street lights were solar powered.
I think solar, wind and nuclear are our future power. The present list of electric automobiles sold is long now. List of production battery electric vehicles - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
We try to minimize our electric usage at home, which has resulted in a 30% drop in our cost. Natural solar lighting (skylights) is another way to reduce electricity consumption.
We have 2 skylights in our 5er and seldom turn on a light until after sunset. Then we use fluorescent lighting.

[Ed-Sommers]

And this thread relates to "RV SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGIES FORUMS" how?

Ed

[fletch460]

10-4 ED

[RJay]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ed-Sommers And this thread relates to "RV SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGIES FORUMS" how? Ed

Quote:

Originally Posted by fletch460 10-4 ED

It relates to going green and alternative energy sources and is appropriate for this forum.

[ralper]

Thank you RJay.

[94-Newmar]

The whole problem I have with "stored" electric usage in whatever form you collect it is that you still need a way to store it. Enter the Battery. Most any savings you get from collecting electricity, via solar panels or wind generators, etc etc is quickly exhausted when it's time to replace the batteries.

Besides, the process to manufacture the batteries is proven to be far less green overall when you factor an equal amount of electricity used from the "grid" being generated by coal or trash and the 'green' savings that the battery has over it's usable service life. In otherwords, if the 500ah battery lasts 5 years and you've used it the entire time, you would have been greener by using an equal amount of 'grid' power when you consider all the carbon emissions that the production of that battery created. Remember, the majority of our batteries are manufactured overseas. They may be some assembled here in the usa, but the production of the internal components is almost all made overseas where in many of those countries there are very few if any restrictions on green house gas emissions or EPA type regulations in place - whereas our power plants today whether it's coal or trash are amongst the cleanest emissions in the world.

I'm with you, I'm all about saving money and going greener at the same time, but unfortunately, our current battery technology isn't the answer right now - but perhaps that will change as batt technology advances.

[wa8yxm]

You say power companies say using electricity is 100% efficient, and, then you challange that..

Well. I have a surprise for you.. The power companies are telling the truth...... They are just not telling the whole truth, but they are telling the truth.

The conversion of electricity to heat is 100% efficient, don't matter if the heater is the 10 buck special from the import house or the several hundred dollar Eden pure it's 100% efficient.

What they do not tell you is the rest of your original post... That is all the losses involved in generating the electricity and getting it to your house.

But as far as they go (From the hole in the wall to the thermometer in the room) they are speaking the truth.

Of course.. it's a fractional truth. But it is still true.

[Ed-Sommers]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RJay It relates to going green and alternative energy sources and is appropriate for this forum.

Fine. However. Under "Going Green" is the statement "A discussion on products, technologies and strategies designed to limit the impact our hobby has on the planet.", and the hobby is of course RV,s.

Also, "Going Green" is under the "RV SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGIES FORUMS" Banner.

While this thread has little bearing on RVers going green and tells me nothing about green RVing, the approval does tell me something about YOU.

That being said, I find the subject matter mildly interesting, and would participate if, IMHO, was in the appropriate forum.

As for going green in my RV, I have 1200 watts of solar panels on my roof, use nothing but water in the black tank, and have learned to maintain heat\cooling through judicious use of window insulation.


Ed

[Ray,IN]

Ed, your reasoning is exactly why I talked about solar lighting in my 5er and our house. It is "going green" so to speak, by consuming less electricity, whatever the source.