Energized!

View of my solar panels

So my panels are up and running.  Last Thursday the folks came out and flipped the switch to start producing power.  And of course it had to be an overcast day.  And the next day it rained.  Such a bummer.  However, last weekend (and today) the sun is shining and I'm producing some power!  I checked it multiple times this weekend and I myself producing about 1.1 kW of power. Cool!

Zero Watts.  So disappointing...

The Tigo system is hooked up as well.  I can't say much about it because I still haven't gotten my login information so I can view what's going on.  And the unit at my house won't give me any information until it connects with their servers online.  What a drag!  Greenspring told me this was supposed to be done Thursday and I'd get the login information on Friday.  Well...it's Monday and still nothing.

Tigo Unit not telling me anything.  Boring...

Overall, I'm happy with the install.  That being said, I have a couple of critiques for Greenspring Energy:

1)  Be honest with the payback.  They gave me the information from PVWatts, install costs, and then estimated an ROI.  Here's what they didn't provide:
    a)  No Tax was included.  That was another ~$500 on top of the install cost.  $500 is roughly 2 years on the ROI.
    b)  Be realistic with the Duke Energy rate increases.  They used 5%/yr.  Yeah...that works for the last, oh 5 years.  But long term, it's been closer to 2%/yr.
    c)  If you conduct a solar eye, then adjust your power generation numbers! I had to ask if they did a solar eye and then ask for the results.  When I read the results, I found out that the actual estimate for power was 20% lower than what PV Watts was estimating, because it assumes an unimpeded ideal southern exposure.  I don't have that.
   d)  Solar panels degrade.  It's even one of the selling points by Sunpower...that it retains ~95% of its power after 5 years and 85% after 25 years.  That's a 0.25%/yr degradation (industry standard = 1%/yr).  Fantastic...well you gotta include those calculations in your ROI!  
   e)  Overall, my ROI was estimated at 13 years.  There's was much better.  Anybody Surprised?
   f)  Hopefully this changes, as I showed them the U.S. DOE System Adviser Model (SAM).  This model includes all the information I note above (except rate increases as user entered).

2)  I would've thought a high priced install would have looked nicer?  The panels themselves look nice\, but some of the other aspects could have been more professional looking.
  a) Below are some pictures with the install.  I'm a little disappointed that I now have a long conduit pipe running down the side of my house.  I will say that at least it's kind of hidden as it runs along the soffit. I'm probably going to have to paint it so it will blend in a little better.  Granted my breaker box isn't exactly located in the easiest place to get at. But, I will say that the wires could have been run down to the crawl space and then come out to the inverter.  I can't complain too much about it.  It definitely could have looked worse.  Judge for yourselves:

Conduit running along the side of the house to the inverter

  b) Next is the TIGO install.  Check out the wires.  Looks like of sh*tty, right?  When they were there I inquired about the wiring and they were offering to get one of those cheap-o black cord holders.  Appropriate thought, I'll give them credit.  But seriously...make it look nice.  Thus, why I went and purchased the nice wire hiding stuff.  And I may go further and have it go into the wall first, and then pop out and run along the base.  I'm not sure yet

Tigo wiring At least they put on wire ties, right?

Then there's where they came through the wall to hook up the communication to the panels via ethernet (gray wire). They ran it through the upper attic, then down to the bonus room attic knee wall (like I did when I wired the house for ethernet).  However, they just cracked my base plate and ran their wire behind mine.  Really?  You couldn't spend the $2 to buy a new plate to run it through?  And then in my bonus room attic, I spent a lot of time and effort putting up XPS insulation and sealing everything.  They just drilled a hole and ran the wire through...leaving a direct hole from the attic to my bonus room.  Couldn't even take the time to put at least piece of HVAC tape over it?!? (I did that temporarily)  Well...once I get the wire chase installed, I've already bought the new plate with the hole where I'll have the wire will run through.  And when that's done, I'll fill in the hole with the XPS with great-stuff foam.  I think I may still have ethernet materials left over....and if I do I may install an ethernet jack instead to make it look much more professional.

Wire coming through the back of the plate.

Once I get the TIGO login information, I'll post about it.  It's pretty cool stuff.

Oh...and I had to buy another adapter kit for my TED 5000.  Apparently it won't register less than zero...or I should say when it does it still reads a positive value.  So to correct my TED readings, I've had to spend $100 on a new MTU (transmitting unit) so I can measure the PV generation individually and then TED will subtract those values from my overall to give me a net (+/-) value.  I'm a little disappointed in this, but oh well.  I should have looked this up previously.

Stay tuned for more fun info!  

On track for another record low month

My TED 5000 Dashboard (4/16/2013)

Yes...I'm a little excited right now...but it looks like I'm on track for a new record low month. 

Wait a second, you say?  But the picture above shows you using more than the last record month (October 2012). 

Hold onto your hats, I say!  This month started out cold and I was still using heat until about April 6/7th!  It's now ~10 days later and my heat is turned off.  Check out the Day History below... 

Historical Data

 

From the pic above in the Daily History you can see 2 days where I was below 10 kWh/day.  That one day (4/12) was my lowest energy usage day ever..and I was at home which includes the AM showers before work.  Granted, I will concede, both days I ate out (Thursday after Ultimate, Friday after golf).  Tuesday (10.3 kWh/d) and Wednesday (10.4 kWh/d) incldues cooking.   Either way, take the last week (Mon 4/9--> Sun 4/14)..I've averaged 11.96 kWh/d.

 

Well..through today, I've used an average of ~15.3 kWh/day (221 kWh).  I need to lower that to <14.6 kWh/day to equal my October 2012 record.   I would need to average 14.44 kWh/day for the next 15 days to match that record.  If I go conservative on my last weeks usage and I average 13 kWh/day for the next 15 days, then I'll average 13.88 kWh/day which will be a new record. 

 

***GIGGIDTY***

 

Stay tuned for the official results.

 

BTW...you may have noticed the TED Monthly Historical my March 2013 usage of 25,219 kWh.  Obviously this is a mistake given last months blog posting.  This is a bug in the TED5000 software whenever there's a power outage.  I'm not sure why but it registered that I used ~4,000 kWh from 3/18 (19:00 hours) to 3/19 (0:00 hours). The folks at Energy Inc (maker of the TED5000) know this and are working on a way to mitigate this issue (TED recognizes and skips or users edit it out or whatever).  It's pretty annoying, yes...and I hope it gets resolved soon.

 

Another Update...my TED 5000 display charging base broke the other day. This is a case where I can actually blame the cat for something (yes, that was the cat farting....not me....).  Shew was rubbing against the unit (happy kitty?) and it just fzzled and stopped working.  The display works fine when I take it out of the charger as it goes to battery mode.  But when I put it into the base, the screen goes blank.  Although my unit was out of warranty, I'm lucky enough that the base is only $15 to replace.  I contacted Energy Inc and a new one is in the mail. 

 

Hot Water Heater

So I've been trying to figure out what else I need to do to reduce my energy usage.  There's things like:

1) Install high efficiency hot water heater
2) Replace siding on the house and put on house wrap
3) Install solar panels
4) Replace fridge
5) etc.

Well...I don't have a ton of money to spend so #2 and #3 are automatically out as those cost multiple thousands of dollars...if not above $10k.  That leaves me with the fridge and HW heater.  Well...at most the fridge might cost me $60-70/yr.  And while I could get a bigger fridge that is more energy efficient...I'd still only save maybe $5-$10/yr.  Yeah...that's not worth it.  So that really leaves me with looking at the HW heater.  I checked out TED from the last 48 hrs and it looks like the HW heater runs roughly 7x/day for about 10 minutes.   The Geothermal system is not operating...it's that nice fall weather so I'm not heating or cooling.   That also means the desuperheater is not generating hot water.  At 4.8kW, that means the HW heater is using 5.6kWh/day.  And I'm currently using 22 kWh/d.  Thus, my HW is accounting for ~25% of my current total daily electricity usage.  Obviously that value will change with increased HVAC usage...but its the numbers I have now.

OK...so one of those hybrid hot water heaters (http://www.geappliances.com/heat-pump-hot-water-heater/ claims a 62% reduction in energy usage compared to a standard hot water heater.   I verified this by looking at that yellow tag energy information.  My current 50-gal HW heater says it'll cost me $520/year and 4879 kWh/year.  The hybrid says $198/yr and 1856 kWh/yr.  There's lots of assumptions included in there (family of 4, using XX gallons per day, $0.105/kWh, yadda yadda)...but let's assume that this is relative and be scalable to my usage. I can't see why it wouldn't since it's based on usage.

This would mean I could expect my energy usage to reudce from 5.6kWh/day to 2.1 kWh/d.  From a cost standpoint, that's $66/year in savings.  My return on investment:   $1000-$300 (tax rebate) = $700/$66 = 10.6 years.  Not a great return, but it's a return...and its within a 'lifetime'.  I should note that next year my electricity rates are going up 15%.  And Dook Energy is trying to raise them another 15% the following year.  Using just the one rate increases bring my savings up to $76/yr and make my ROI to 9.2 years.

One thing I should also note is that the hybrid HW heater is essentially an air source heat pump (ASHP) attached to a hot water heater.  So when it runs...it's essentially an air conditioner.  It's taking the heat from the air and transferring it to the hot water.  That means my crawl space (where my HW heater is located) will become 'conditioned'.  So no more dehumidifier needed (that's an extra 3 kWh/d minimum which isn't included here).  So that's cool.

However, I'm a little worried if there's enough 'heat' down in the crawl space during the winter.  I know last winter, the crawl space hung around 68F...and I had crappy vents in there.  I know i probably had duct leakage...but it wasn't too signficant as I had the energy audit guys down there and I fixed the places that had bad leakage.  I was reading online and some folks saw the unit drop temperatures down to 45-47F in their basements....which required them to drop a duct to give it some heat. 

So I'm thinking what I'll do this winter is I'll insulated the door to he crawl space and then monitor the temperature in the crawl space to see what happens.  If temperatures stay fairly warm, maybe I'll swap out the hot water heater...

Any thoughts out there?  

UPDATE:  Now there's always switching to gas to save moeny.  But that's not cheap either.  First, my hot water heater is in my crawl space.  And I'd need to vent the exhaust....which I doubt I have space for.  So for a standard gas hot water heater, I'd probably have to move it someplace else (garage?)...and I'd need an electrician and plumber for that.  And that isn't cheap.  I could go tankless and gas.  Again I'd need to move things around...and that unit is ~$1500.  And a 7.4 gpm unit ("2 uses") would still cost $223/mo @ 1.22/therm (using the Energy Guide).  So its still not better than the hybrid uni...not to mention it'll be more expensive to purchase and install.

UPDATE 2:  I just found this in the WaterFurnace Desuperheater User manual.  Apparently, it's more efficient to install two HWs in series to allow the first one to be a preheat tank to maximize the desuperheater usage.  I'll definitely have to think about this...

TED is back

Woohooo!  It ended up being a broken daugherboard.  But it's all fixed and my display is back.  Now back to being informed and nit-picky about where my electricity is being used...

Waiting on TED

Sorry for the delay.  Still waiting on my TED display unit to show back up...and it's killing me.  I'm still saving money...but I'm missing my display and its information.  I can still see the data using my laptop or cell phone...but there's nothing like the 'glance' at the counter.  I can say, that according to TED, I'm using less electricity than last month.  It'll be another 3-5 days until I get my next Duke Energy bill and I'll know for sure.

Keep those fingers crossed.

UPDATE:  I added a comment to my 'support ticket' and they just responded.  The TED folks just responded to say that they are shipping out a replacement display today and I should have it on Tuesday.  Sweet!

My TED, Eragy

Howdy folks!

Well with the departure of Google PowerMeter the folks at The Energy Detective (TED) have come through and upgraded their equipment firmware to allow for other Energy Monitoring websites to be used.  I've decided to try out MyEragy.com which is based out of Durham, NC.  The Screenshot of the 'dashboard' is below:

It's not too bad.  The actual TED dashboard is easier to use, but maybe this site will eventually allow me to link my daily usage to my Blog so I'll update it more often (yes...I've been slacking).

On top of that my TED5000 display stand has stopped charging my display unit.  Dang!  I've contact the folks at TED since I'm still under warranty.  I just submitted my information so I should hear shortly.  One thing that sucks is that they required me to show a copy of my receipt.  Seriously?  A receipt?  It's been 7 months.  The only reason I have the receipt is because it was in my 2010 taxes folder (yes...an energy monitor qualifies for the energy tax credit).  Anyhow...if you get one of these, don't throw out the receipt.  Maybe some day, they'll have a product registration option to their website so when you get the software, you register your device so you don't need to hold onto the receipt for a year.

UPDATE (8/17/11):  As soon as I sent in the information, I got a RMA # and a FedEx return label same day.  Fantastic work from these folks!  Plus, I like not having to pay shipping. I FedExed my display back and I'm awaiting its return.  I will say not having the display in the kitchen makes me feel...well...a little lost and uniformed.  

Oh yeah....almost forgot...while at the Water Environment Federation (WEF) Energy and Water Conference last week, I saw a presentation that included energy monitors.  The project was actual about using these monitors to measure energy usage from decentralized wastewater treatment systems (aka septic tank-type systems).  Well...one interesting fact was that on average, folks who have an energy monitor use 10-15% less energy than those who do not....mainly because of just being informed.

So that's something to think about for anyone out there who's interested...

Geothermal Heat Pump System

OK...yesterday, I called up a HVAC place, Pantherhvac (pantherhvac.com), and they came out to check out my house.  Mike, the owner of the company, was great.  We walked around the house...looked at my POS existing heat pumps and talked geothermal. Did I say it was great yet?  Because if not, here it is again...it was great and it was fun.  I guess having a spend a lot of money isn't fun, but talking about saving energy and money is.

Anyhow, so the best places for the wells will be in the front yard...and I really liked his idea of putting the wells under the driveway, since I was already planning on tearing out my beat up driveway anyway and putting in something permeable.  The nice thing for them about putting the wells there is no utilities and no sprinkler system to deal with. Plus, the drill rig doesn't have to deal with trees.  So, the wells would under the driveway and then I'd have a small trench that would run two 1.25" lines (supply and return) to the crawl space.  This is nice because it would be minimal yard repair from the excavation in the front yard.   And before you ask...the well system has a 55 year warranty.

So the system will include two @ 2 ton units.  The downstairs unit would be a combined unit with all brand new insulated duct work.  Next to that unit would be the "liquid half" of my upstairs unit, so it would be a split system.  Then the air handler would be in the attic like the way it is now.  The main duct work in the attic would be replaced with insulated stuff.  However, the current "drops" to each room are already insulated and new, so they can be reused.  Only the duct run to the bonus room would be replaced since the insulation is falling off of it.   Oh, and we discussed putting on a different supply vent in our master bathroom to redirect the air...because the ventilation fan for that bathroom is literally 3" from the supply duct.  So...when the ventilation fan is running and the heat turns on, the heat literally goes straight outside.  This is why I have that vent in the bathroom is closed.

Ok...for hot water, I'm getting two quotes.  One for the normal system with the desuperheater to give me free hot water in the summer (the reject heat from A/C is used to heat the hot water).  The other will be for "priority" hot water which essentially is using the geothermal system to heat your hot water.  It's also called geothermal hot water.

So, when talking dollars and sense we discussed round numbers until I get the official quote on Monday.  The unofficial quote is $30k.  So, take that $30k and minus the 30% federal tax credit ($10k), and now it's $20k.  Then, the State of NC has a 35% tax credit capped at $8.4k.  So minus the $8.4k, and I'm at $11.6k.  Fantastic.  I got a quote from my current HVAC contractor for a new high efficiency air source heat pump (16-18 SEER, 9.X HSPF) that was $14k. So, after tax breaks, this system will cost me less than installing the air source heat pumps while being significantly more efficient!

Now I just need the official quote.  I also need to call up two other HVAC places to get quotes from them to keep everyone 'honest'.

Oh...and BTW, I showed the HVAC guy my TED 5000.  He loved it.  He's probably going to start including one with his geothermal systems to show folks how much energy/money they are saving.

Interference confirmed...I hope

OK...so I think I've confirmed the interference.  Above is a 36-hr graph....the inline filter was installed by 19:00 hours. Check out 7am yesterday versus 7am today...SIGNIFICANTLY lower peaks.  Today's peaks max out around 17 kW while yesterday's peaks reached 29 kW.  I'm guessing the interference may have been a result of the heat pump supplemental heat strips as it seems the extremes were exaggerated as you can see that the smaller loads appear to be consistent.  I'm a little hesitant to declare victory as it's 36 degrees outside today. Well...the past two days it was ~25F.   Well, that 10 degrees makes a difference in how/if the electric heat operates, as I explained yesterday.  So, we'll see, I guess.  This weekend show lows in the 20s again...

TED Interference and Filter

OK...so I had suspected there was some sort of interference with my TED unit.  This main reason came about because I was noticing some loads from TED showing >40 kW.  Well...if I add up all my loads in my house, I don't think I get 40 kW.  So I ordered the suggested "in-line noise filter".  However, instead of ordering it from www.theenergydetective.com website (which was ~$14 for the filter plus ~$16 for fedex to ship it...yeah, no sh*t)...I ordered it from X10shop.com.  BTW...X10shop.com was prompt, quick, and they had a good price ($9 for the filter plus $3 for USPS shipping).  Kudos to that place.

Anyhow, so I installed the filter which was a pain...if you follow my lead, make sure you splice on some extra wires because the wires are really short from the filter...like 3" long.  The max distance I had was probably close to 12" long.  After installation, I had to reset some of settings, it is working great.  The TED is much more responsive to load changes and the communication light on the side is now blinking much more consistently (this is an indication that it is receiving a signal from the MTU in the breaker box).  I'm thrilled!

So...I'm just going to have to wait and collect data to see if those AM loads I ranted about earlier are just fiction (I hope!).  Otherwise, it could despair...

Yesterday's Energy Usage

OK...so here's the last couple days of energy usage for my home:

Can you tell when the heat turns on when I get up?  Yeah...pretty obvious.  Not to mention that it's been in the 20s outside the past couple of AMs (highs around 50).  To set the stage...I currently have air source 2 heat pumps for heating and cooling, one upstairs and one downstairs.  They are old...11-12 years old.  The air handlers are even OLDER....they were MFRed in 1984 (my house was built in 1986).  Well...air source heat pumps really don't work under 32-35F.  So they are equipped with electric heat strips (10kW) for days of low temperatures.  Well...these heat pumps are just killing me.  Over the last two days I've used the following amounts of power according to TED:
Tuesday 1/4:  84 kWh
Monday 1/3: 68 kWh
Sunday 1/2:  32 kWh (low temp ~40F, high temp ~64F)
So, when I look at where my power is going....it's nearly all going to heating...with a significant chunk by the auxiliary heat.  There's some going to hot water (electric again) after showers, but generally that's short-term, but that still adds to the peaks.  If you compare to Sunday...when we were home all day, we used half as much power because temperatures were warmer which meant there wasn't a need for the auxiliary heat.

And before you ask...I do use programmable thermostats.  My upstairs heating temperatures moves from 62F (away/sleeping) to 67F (home/awake)...while downstairs I'm a little more 'liberal' at 62F to 68F.  As my wife says every winter, "say goodbye to this" as she bundles up.  If we have company (which isn't all that often), I may splurge and bump up the downstairs temperature to 69F.

Anyhow, "luckily" my air source heat pumps are dying, according to my HVAC tech.  I've already spent around $600 on those units since I've moved in (March 2010).  This is one of the main reasons why I'm going to replace that system with a ground source (geothermal) heat pump.  These units are somewhere around 3-5x more efficient at heating, 1.5-2x more efficient for cooling, and they can produce my hot water.  For more information see:  http://www.geoexchange.org/.  Fear not...I'll keep you posted when this endeavor kicks off.

Day 1 of the Blog

Ok...welcome to my first blog.  So...let me get started...

Ever since I got this new TED 5000 I'm been infatuated with it. To those who are unaware...the TED 5000 is a home electricity monitor (www.theenergydetective.com).   Seriously...I'm always checking out how much power is being used followed by searching the house for what is being used when the wattage is so dang high.  Due to this almost "obsessive compulsive" behavior, my wife decide I needed to start a blog to chronicle my endeavors.  If you're reading this...then guess what?  You've just joined the 'cool-kids-club' and you get to share my joy/despair.

Ok...so this little piece of gadgetry has revolutionized how I think about my lifestyle.  As of now, I'm looking across the my TED display which is showing me a reading of 7.018 kW as my small electric convection oven is cooking some fish sticks.  I'm thinking to myself, "holy crap...where is all the power being used?"  And yes, I did just get up and check to find that the heat is on up- and downstairs, so it make sense.  Every AM, I'm checking the power usage when I walk the dog.  And then when I get to work, I go online to check my power usage.  That's right folks...I'm emphatic enough to have my TED hooked up so I can check my power usage anywhere.  I also have it connected to Google PowerMeter.  So, as you can see...I'm pretty obsessed.

Now, let me get this straight...I've always been concerned with energy efficiency.  Maybe when I get some motivation I'll post some blogs revisiting some past projects/moments....flashback style!  Anyhow, I'd like to reduce my carbon footprint and all...but truthfully, my main goals is to save money.  It's just amazing how much money I throw at utilities for their services.  I'd much rather put that money to much better use...like buying myself something cool.  So, I've put a lot of time and effort into making my home and lifestyle energy efficient.

Now, let me say...I don't just go out and buy something because it's 'cool' and 'green'.  As my wife will surely point out...I research everything exhaustively.  Seriously...I'll google for hours trying to find every last piece of relevant information.  Then, more than likely, I'll build myself a spreadsheet that calculates the life cycle cost comparing against other alternatives which I'll constantly scrutinize before I can convince myself that something is a good investment.  I'm not sure if being an Engineer is a curse or a Blessing...you tell me.