saving electricity

and to think i gave +rep. then comes the attitude. well your electrical rep still holds, but your people skills are lacking. now can we stop? before someone gets hurt?

OK all... I think the lesson here is that to save electricity you need to think outside the grow room and cut your household consumption. There is NO magic bullet for cutting grow room usage!

go solar !!!!!!!! the sun is free and panels pay for themselves in ten years. ten years from now you too can have free power for life.

Now that idea I like...solar.

fdd2blk said:

go solar !!!!!!!! the sun is free and panels pay for themselves in ten years. ten years from now you too can have free power for life.

Click to expand...

A system capable of providing and storing enough electricity for a normal home runs $30-50K...

I average about $1,500 a year in electricity so $15,000 over 10 yrs.

Lifespan on most solar panels is between 10-25 yrs - 2 pts for anyone that can find a company that has been around 25+ yrs.

I looked into solar as well as geothermal heat pumps for HVAC and hot water - that has a much better payoff and only runs about double the cost of a normal Heating/AC unit.

I can't wait until solar panels are built cheap and last - if they could integrate them so it was the roof shingle/panel that would be awesome.

Buddha,
Ask...

I can't wait until solar panels are built cheap and last - if they could integrate them so it was the roof shingle/panel that would be awesome.

And you shall recieve....

Roof shingles powered by solar energy - shingles photovoltaic solar panels roof shingles - photovoltaic shingles - shingle

solar roof shingles.

i too heard from an electrician that it would save electricity but it still doesn't make sense ... im gonna double verify with another guy... there must be sumthing thats mixing ppl up ... doesnt neone know if theres ne way to save electricity?

Here's a really simple way to look at it--with 120v you have ONE hot and a neutral--with 240v you have TWO hots--since Volts x Amps = Watts, no matter what...if you have a 1000Watt fixture running at 120V, ONE hot will carry 8.34amps...if you run it at 240V, TWO hots, they will each be 4.17amps, added together, still 8.34amps...the only real reason to run 240v is you can run smaller wires BUT, you need TWO hot wires and a double pole breaker...with 120v ONE hot and a single pole breaker...Volts X Amps will always equal Watts, no savings in electricity since, as has already been pointed out, it's always measured in watts. I know this doesn't really help as far as saving electricity, but it's the truth.

Gawd this thread goes back a bit.

Yep, we all pay for watts used, not amps. 1000 watts used per hour is 1000 watts used irregardless of the amps and volts.

futrdc said:

Buddha,
Ask...

I can't wait until solar panels are built cheap and last - if they could integrate them so it was the roof shingle/panel that would be awesome.

And you shall recieve....

Roof shingles powered by solar energy - shingles photovoltaic solar panels roof shingles - photovoltaic shingles - shingle

solar roof shingles.

Click to expand...

Solar panels do last. They are guaranteed for 80% output for 20-25 years. (find *any* other mfg that gives those rates) The roofing shingle version are rated at 1/2 the output (probably from the flexibility of them killing the light)

Building them cheap is a different story. For the 30+ year span, they haven't dropped a penny (inflation taken into account) Even in this 'green' forefront we are on. Germany is *heavily into solar panels and its still lagging.

Solar isn't the key. PV is horrible on the bang for buck scale (RIO for that camp of thinking). Solar heat water is the best (for solar). Even better then wind for a house. Wind takes some $$ too. The tower will cost at *least* as much as the turbine. (I'm currently taking/logging local readings, 4 times an hour, of 3 different places to see what area works best for where I'd like to live)

Also consider the power, chemicals, and waste involved in making a PV panel. Its not as 'green' as that myopic idiot, Al Gore, will have you believe.